Negative Regression
by KaptainKnuts
Summary: Stiles leaves for his FBI training early, leaving both Scott and Lydia wondering how they will carry on without him. With Theo trying to prove that he is a new person and threats both old and new threatening Beacon Hills, relationships will be tested as the pack must come together one last time to save their friends. Season 6B AU.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1-

As the 2nd week of summer came and went, Lydia's life felt normal for the first time in what seemed like years. Her world hadn't seemed this stable since before she met Allison and through proxy, met Scott and Stiles. There were no deaths, no supernatural force that seemed hellbent on killing them, and they had graduated High school, which felt like more of an accomplishment than it had any right too.

Things had finally seemed to settle down after everything with the Ghost Riders and Mr. Douglas and Lydia hoped that it would stay that way. Her and Stiles were finally together after what seemed like an eternity and she hoped that things would stay that way, though she couldn't get rid of the itch in the back of her mind that told her that the calm would never last. No matter how she tried to reassure herself, it felt as though that something was on the horizon.

It didn't help that she felt that she couldn't go to anyone about this. Scott and Stiles were out of the question because in a few short weeks, the tree of them would be heading off to college and it would no longer be their problem. She didn't want to tell Liam and put even more on the beta's shoulders, especially if it turned out that she was only imagining things. Once Malia was done summer school, she made it clear that she wanted to travel and see other places, but she wasn't fooling anyone. No one called her out on it but it was obvious that she believed that there wasn't anything left here for her.

Every time Malia mentioned that she was leaving, Lydia cringed inwardly. She felt that she had gotten close to the were-coyote over the past year and though Malia never blamed or accused her, she knew that she was at least partially to blame for Malia's need to leave. It was a hardly a secret that Malia was in love with Stiles, and possibly still in love with him but with Lydia dating him and their plan to go college on the east coast together, the poor girl felt as though she had nothing left in Beacon Hills.

Lydia shook her head, now wasn't the time to think about relationships, she had more important things to worry about. She was inside the waiting room at the Animal Clinic, waiting for Deaton to be available. For whatever reason, she couldn't keep still. Whether it was a simple taping of her foot, or rubbing her fingernails across just about every nearby surface, she couldn't stop fidgeting, and Lydia Martin does not fidget. Another thing to chalk up to her recent anxiety. Hopefully Deaton would be able to shine some light on the situation and help come up with a solution.

"Lydia," began the veterinarian with the kind expression that she was accustomed to, "Come in, come in."

As she entered the room, she witnessed she cleaned up after having apparently stitched some poor animal up. The room had the same unnaturally clean and sterile smell that it always did, but Lydia couldn't help but notice that something seemed a little off. As she continued her inspection of the clinic, she noticed that Deaton was the only one there.

"Where's Scott?"

A small smile graced Deaton's face, as if he was amused by something that only he knew. "I gave him the day off. He said that he wanted to have time to make sure he packed everything for college, so I let him go home early. Why, were you hoping to find him here?"

Lydia brushed the question off as she made to sit at a nearby chair, which was followed by Deaton sitting in one across from her.

"Why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

She shouldn't have been as surprised by the question as she was, but the truth of the matter was…she didn't know how to describe her problem. Being a banshee, she was used to the feelings of foreboding that came with it, but nothing had felt like this before. It felt as something was attempting to rip her heart out of her chest.

"I'm not sure. I feel like something terrible is going to happen, but I'm not sure what?"

"Is this just a feeling or a premonition?"

"A little of both I guess. It's more than just a gut feeling but it's different from any other thing I've felt before. It feels like a knife is slowly driving itself into my chest."

Deaton leaned in closer to her as he started speaking again. "A while back, I told Scott the same thing that I'm going to tell you. Have you ever heard of regression to the mean?"

Lydia nodded her head, "You mean the belief that the universe always balance itself out?"

"Exactly, I think that that is what we're experiencing right now."

Lydia's brow furrowed as she processed this information. "So, what? Things have been great so they're going to turn bad again?"

"No, not exactly. Things must go back to the middle. From there, the scale can tip either way."

He asked her to wait where she was a moment as he went into the back. He was there for a few moments but eventually came back with a book.

"There's very little written about Banshees. Most go their entire lives without knowing what they are. Here's the only book in my collection that contains any useful information."

Lydia turned the book over in her hands a few times, running her fingers over the leather exterior, before she opened it up and skimmed in absent-mindedly. The near pristine condition of the pages within confused her slightly.

Noticing her expression, Deaton elected to speak up. "A lot of my books have been passed down for generations. I haven't read all of them, and because of how rare your kind is and with everything else going on, I haven't had the opportunity to read this one," he paused and gave her a look that she that was both comforting and apologetic, "Plus, I've found that discovering things for yourself is usually so much more rewarding."

He now had a small grin on his face, that clearly showed that even though his words contained a hint of truth, he was mostly teasing her and her studious nature.

Putting the book under her arms, she left the animal clinic and got in her car to head over to Scott's. It was time for her to be open with him about her recent feelings. The sky opened and it began to rain, her mind drifted to the upcoming conversation as water began accumulating on the asphalt.

She feared that telling Scott any of this would convince him to put his life on hold and stay in Beacon Hills, but she knew deep down that she had to. If something was going to happen, Scott needed to know.

She was nearly halfway to Scott's house when her phone went off as it laid in the passenger's seat. She chanced a glance at it to see of it was something important and was met by Stiles name on her phone. She quickly lifted it to her ear and answered the call.

"Hey Stiles."

"Lydia, babe," he began, his voice sounding rushed and a little strained as if he was trying to get this call over quickly. This only made her feel anxious about what he wanted to tell her.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he retorted entirely too quickly for her liking, making it apparent that something was in fact wrong. "I just…can you come over. I need to talk to you about something important."

She agreed, before quickly hanging up and turning around to Stiles' house, as she began to feel apprehensive over what was going on. Every possible scenario entered her mind, making the drive over seem to take hours, but she was unprepared when she was met with the sight of Stiles' and his father loading luggage into the back of his dad's car.

She quickly exited her car and walked over to where Stiles was loading the last of bags. He had yet to noticed his girlfriend's presence and closed the trunk of the car. Lydia waited a few moments for him to acknowledge her, but became tired of waiting.

"Stiles?" Her voice startles Stiles out of whatever trance he was in. His eyes lock onto Lydia's and he visibly deflates at the sight of her. "What's going on?"

His hand reaches up to rub the back of his neck as he tries to formulate a response. His father came back outside but halts when he sees Lydia there before stating that he'll wait inside.

"I didn't think you'd get here so soon," his statement sounded as if he somehow hoped that it would answer all of Lydia's questions, but it only served to confuse her even more.

"Why are you packing your bags? We aren't supposed to leave until August."

A humorless chuckle escaped Stiles' lips. "Not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

"I've been accepted into an early enrolment program. They want me there by the end of the week." Lydia opened her mouth to say something but was cut off. "look, I know we were supposed to head off to the east coast together, but I need to do this Lydia."

She stood there, trying to process everything Stiles just told her. He was planning on going without her, and he hadn't thought it important to tell her. She searched his face for any falsehood, instead she saw apprehension on his face as realization dawned on her.

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you known about this?"

He at least had the decency to look embarrassed and embarrassed in equal measure.

"Since school ended."

"And you didn't think to tell anyone? To tell me?"

Stile sighed, "I didn't know how to tell everyone. I mean," he waved and arm between him and Lydia, "we made that plan and you started talking about the future but," he looked away from her, his eyes boring resolutely into the ground, "I don't know what I want in my future."

He started to pace around back and forth, his distress obvious, causing Lydia to step forward and intercept him. He stilled momentarily and looked at her again, the stray tears in his eyes mirrored by her's.

"The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't know what I wanted in my future. Hell, I didn't even think we would make it this far."

"What about us?"

She knew the question hit home when Stiles visibly flinched. She figured that this was a line of questioning that he hoped would be avoided.

"When we finally got together, I thought it was everything I ever wanted. But as time went on, I realized I was in love with the idea of you and not really you." He saw that she was about to cry even harder so he moved in closer and took her hands in his own. "Look, what we had was great, I mean really great. But…I'm not sure this is what I want anymore." He too couldn't hold back the tears anymore as he embraced Lydia in a hug. She just stood there in his embrace without reciprocating.

Eventually, Noah came back out and told Stiles that it was time to go. He loosened his hold on Lydia and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry Lydia. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I don't want you to wait for me. If everything works out and we both feel the same way when I come back we can try again, but I don't want you to be miserable while I'm gone."

He stepped away and moved towards the car, opened his door, and gave one last look in Lydia's direction.

"Goodbye Lydia."

He closed the door after he climbed in, before he and his dad pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the airport, where Stiles would begin the rest of his life. One that Lydia was no longer a part of.

She stood there and watched them pull away, unmoving for several minutes as the rain continued to pour around her.

 _ **AN: So here's the first chapter of my new Teen Wolf Story. With the sneak peak of Season 6b coming out tonight, I wanted to start my 6B AU before the season actually started.**_

 _ **This story will primarily be Scott/Lydia but a few other pairings will be present, probably the most startling of which will show up in the next chapter. I hope to start this one really soon and hope a lot of people will enjoy it.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading!**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lydia didn't realize she was driving until she was already halfway to where her subconscious was directing her to go. She momentarily panicked, thinking that the Banshee side of her was directing her towards another dead body. She pulled the car over to gather her bearing and let out a sigh when she realized where she was going.

Scott's house. Of course, her mind would associate comfort and safety with Scott and would direct her there without needing to even think about it. It was just convenient that she needed to head there anyway. Her conversation with Deaton still rang loud and clear, and she was still hesitant to add this burden on top of Stile's departure when they were all so close to moving on with their lives.

Selfishness flared up inside her. Hadn't they suffered enough? Hadn't they done more than they to, to make sure that this town was safe? Why couldn't they all catch this one break, especially when they had lost so much?

She chastised herself for such thoughts. Scott wouldn't agree with that thought. He would do whatever it took to keep the people of Beacon Hills safe.

And she would be there with him.

She admired Scott's unwavering bravery and selflessness, it was something that she both appreciated and envied about him. Though they never talked about it since, their conversation at the school recital when she was almost killed by the Darach, that changed her life. She saw the unwavering force that was Scott McCall and she decided then and there that she would do everything in her power to help him.

Once she pulled into Scott's driveway, she knocked on the front door and waited until Melissa opened the door with a slightly exasperated smile.

"Oh Lydia, it's you," she began as she opened the door further to allow her in, "I think I'm spending too much time with Chris. He got me convinced that…" she paused for a moment before waving her hands animatedly, "Never mind. You're here to see Scott I'm assuming?"

"Yes, Deaton recommended that I come by and talk to him about something."

Melissa's smile slowly crept away and was replaced by a worried furrow of her brow. "You had a vision, right? Something's going to happen."

"No just a strange feeling I've been having. It's not like my other premonitions, so hopefully it's nothing," she gave the older woman a smile that she hoped was reassuring even though she wasn't totally convinced herself. "Don't worry, it's probably nothing." The words sounded hollow, even in her own head.

The pair exchanged one last smile, before Melissa moved towards the kitchen, where Lydia finally noticed that Argent was currently situated. Lydia let out a light chuckle at the memory of when Scott found out about his mom's relationship with the hunter and it was very awkward. Still, Scott grew used to it and it was nice that both Argent and Melissa could find happiness.

A commotion at the top of the stairs caught her attention and she saw Scott come halfway down the stairs and give her one of his patented crooked smiles. He continued the rest of the way and opened his arms, inviting Lydia in which she gladly accepted. She had to stop herself from clutching at him desperately, she didn't want to worry Scott any more than she already would by adding her relationship issues.

"Hey Lydia."

"Hey Scottie." She noticed another grin as he pulled away. It took her a moment to realize that she had used Stile's nickname that he had for Scott an felt conflicting emotions, happiness that she had someone who she could consider a close friend, but the fact that it reminded her of Stiles caused the hurt to flare up inside her once more.

Scott nods upstairs and leads up to his room. When they enter his room and he shuts the door to give them privacy, Lydia can't help but stand unsure, in the middle of the room. She had been in Scott's room a few times ever since they became friends, but she can't help but still feel a little awkward in there. There was just something about it that made her feel nervous, though she couldn't figure it out for the life of her.

Seeing her fidget, Scott assumed that it had to do with the fact that he shut the door behind them. "If you think my mom will get suspicious because the door's closed, don't worry she trusts us." He gave her another grin and even though his statement only made her temporarily feel more awkward, the earnestness in his expression helped calm her down greatly.

She sat down on the edge of his bed and waited until he sat next to her, his eyes radiating concern. She could tell that he knew something was up and decided it was time to juts get on with it.

"I've been having this feeling lately." Scott opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Lydia. "I'm not sure what it means. It feels like all my other feelings when something bad is going to happen but at the same time, it doesn't. I don't want to put any more stress on you than you already have with college coming up and training Liam to take over around here, but I can't help but feel like you needed to know."

Scott turned to look at her and grabbed ahold of her right hand, forcing her to turn and look at him. "Lydia, whatever it is that you feel, you shouldn't feel like you have to keep it away from me. I can tell that this is weighing heavily on you. You don't have to carry it on your own. We're a pack, we're all here for each other. Don't worry about bothering or burdening me, I can handle whatever it is."

The determination that shown through his eyes was so enrapturing that Lydia believed every word he said. He could handle it, _they_ could handle it, whatever it is that she was feeling. But he wasn't completely right, this feeling wasn't what was plaguing her mind. Though she had earlier decided against telling him, she couldn't stop the words from pouring from her mouth.

"Stiles is gone." Scott's eyes widened infinitesimally, as if he was only slightly surprised by her statement.

"Did you know?" she couldn't stop the emotion from coming through her tone. Whether it was anger or hurt she couldn't decipher.

"He had mentioned that he was going to be leaving eventually, but he didn't say that it would be this soon." Scott took in her pained expression and knotted his brows together in confusion, "Didn't he tell you?"

Tears started to fall from her eyes unobstructed again as she shook her head. "No. I didn't realize anything was wrong until he called me to see him. When I showed up, he and his dad were packing up his dad's car." Her tears came more frequently now, but before she could get any other words out, she found herself wrapped up in another of Scott's embraces. She clung to him as if he was her lifeline.

"I get the feeling that I was the last person he told. Now I feel as though he doesn't care abut me."

"Lydia," Scott whispered, "You know that's not true."

"Then why did he decided to break up with me?" She felt Scott stiffen, obviously not expecting that. He quickly recovered and attempted to reassure her.

"Trust me he does," she pulls back to look at him, the question dancing in her eyes, "I can smell it on him, he really does care about you. If anything, he probably wants you to be happy and with you two separated, he doesn't want to take away from you being happy."

Lydia nodded her head in understanding. She wasn't happy or satisfied with the idea, but she understood. If anything, it made her happier that Scott cared so much about her and made her a little angrier at Stiles.

Before the conversation could go any further, Scott got a text from Malia. Pulling his phone out, he looked at the message before reluctantly pulling away from her and grabbing his jacket.

"That was Malia. She says that she found another pack roaming around the preserve and says she might need our help."

Nodding her head, she wiped away the errant tears from her face and grabbed her jacket to put it on. Turning back to Scott, she sees him put a bike helmet under one arm, before offering up the other one to her. She gratefully takes it, before they both head down the stairs.

* * *

Lydia and Scott arrived at the entrance of the preserve and met up with the rest of the pack. Malia was leaning casually next to the nearby sign while Liam, Hayden, Mason, and Corey were huddled and the other side of the path. What caught Lydia and Scott off-guard was the presence of Theo there. It was true that he wasn't exactly their enemy anymore, but nobody in the pack truly trusted him, especially judging by the fact that he was standing by himself.

Seeing them arrive, Malia stepped forward and offered the two of them a brief hug, though Lydia noticed that she hugged Scott for just a little longer. She had spent so little time with either Scott or Malia, mostly because of her relationship with Stiles, but that applied to Malia more than Scott.

"Where's Stiles?"

Of course, Liam was the one to ask the obvious question. The reactions of the rest of the pack were varied. The most obvious reaction was Scott's measured one because he already knew, Hayden, Corey, and Mason both looked on with limited curiosity, and Malia seemed the most effected as she was left standing with her mouth hanging open. What surprised her the most was Theo's reaction. She would've figured that he would seem disinterested, but instead it was clear that he was clearly interested in what she had to say.

"He left," was all she said. While Liam and the beta pack were satisfied with that answer, both Theo and Malia seemed like they wanted to know more.

"He decided that he needed to leave now and decided it was best that we take time apart", Malia still seemed shell-shocked at Stiles' departure, while Theo appeared thoughtful. Deciding that it was time to step in Scott asked Malia what she had called him about.

"Earlier, while I was going for a run through the preserve, I caught a couple of scents. Werewolves."

"How many?"

Malia looked thoughtful for a moment before she responded, "at least four maybe more, they also smelled scared of something."

Scott nodded his head as he processed this information then turned to address the rest of the pack. "We need to find them. We don't know if they're friendly or they're here to start trouble but we should find out. Let's split up. Liam, you and Hayden check the southern portion of the woods."

He turned to Theo, his expression not one of complete contempt but of obvious distrust. "Can I trust you?"

"What else do I need to do to prove to you that I'm on your side."

Scott didn't seem completely appeased by his statement, but nodded anyway. "Alright, I'll leave you to check the north. Mason, Corey, and I will check the east, while Malia, you and Lydia-"

"I should go by myself instead," Malia interjected, "I know these woods better than anyone here, and if I shift into a coyote, I can cover more ground than any of you can."

Scott looked like he was about to argue against it, but the positive murmurs from everyone ese made him bite his tongue. Most of the pack took her statement at face value, but both Scott and Lydia understood that she simply didn't want to be around Malia. Though the were-coyote had come to terms with Stiles and Lydia's relationship, it didn't mean that she was happy about it.

"Well, in that case, Lydia, you go north with Theo." Lydia was slightly apprehensive about working with Theo, but seeing that there was no other way around this, she agreed. Scott gave the command and everyone sped off to try and find the wayward werewolves.

* * *

The search proved fruitless. After searching for nearly three hours, the pack regrouped back at the entrance of the preserve, only for each group to report that they found nothing. With a parting wave, everyone went their separate ways leaving Scott and Lydia to leave together.

The bike ride to Lydia's was quiet, giving time for Lydia to sit with her thoughts of the last few hours. Her time spent roaming the woods with Theo were eye opening to say the least. The search alongside the Chimera was not as awkward or as oppressing as she would have anticipated. In fact, it almost felt comfortable.

He pressed her to talk for most of the first hour until she decided that the silence had gone on long enough. From there, the conversation went on amicably, at first it was mostly talking about recent events. Theo even brought up Stiles' departure, allowing her to finally vent all her frustrations over her new situation. Though, she never expected Theo to start this conversation, she was thankful that she could get the stress off her chest.

They arrived at her house shortly thereafter, with Scott being gracious enough to walk her to the front door despite her protests that it wasn't necessary. Once on her doorstep, she turned to say goodbye and saw the familiar look of concern on Scott's face, once again making her feel lucky to have a friend like him.

"Are you sure you're okay Lydia? You've been quiet the whole way home and I know the whole Stiles thing must be eating you up inside."

She smiled gratefully but did her best to deflect his concern. "I'll be alright Scott. I actually had a talk with Theo while we were out and it helped me feel a lot better." Scott seemed dumfounded that Theo had actually helped her start to come to terms with the her jumbled up emotions but decided that she really was getting better, and gave her a quick hug before telling her goodbye and heading home.

Lydia immediately headed up to her room and threw herself down on her bed, exhausted by the day's events. She questioned whether or not talking things with Scott was a good idea, he must be feeling at least somewhat similar to how she was feeling, but reasoned that Scott was a lot more open emotionally than she was, so if he needed to talk things out he would. Still, she regretted lying to him by playing down just how much hurt she was still feeling. She hadn't felt anything like this since either Aiden's death or if she was completely honest Jackson's departure. Even then she had a tough time coping, the only way to get her mind off of everything was by having a…

Lydia bolted upright in her bed, as an answer came to her. It wasn't a fool proof fix to her issues but it could help dull the hurt she felt inside. Besides, right now she didn't feel that she needed or wanted a solution, what she wanted was a _distraction._

Pulling up her phone, already having in mind who she would contact, she sent a text to the person, her plan already formulating in her head.

 _ **AN:**_

 _ **Alright so chapter 2 is done. I'm planning on using the idea of werewolves moving into Beacon Hills as an opening for the rest of the story. These new inhabitants will be a major factor in events to come.**_

 _ **It might seem like Lydia's character is going back development-wise but remember the story is called "Negative Regression". She's falling back on what she knows works for this kind of situation and her arc will be about her growing and dealing with her emotions in a better way. Even though I left it as a cliffhanger, I don't doubt that some of you will figure out who she's texting and it might confuse or anger some of you but don't worry, everything is happening for a reason. We won't officially find out who it is until probably around chapter 4 because I want to further other plots during the next chapter.**_

 _ **I know that the first two chapters were both from Lydia's perspective but the rest of the story will jump back and forth quite a bit; whether entire chapters will focus on one character or multiple ones, I haven't decided yet. The next chapter will either be from Malia or Scott's perspective**_

 _ **I hope you guys have enjoyed this and as always, thanks for reading!**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 –

The sun was finally making its journey up into the sky as Malia finally made it home. She hobbled towards her house on four legs after another tiring night of searching through the woods. Turning her nose to the sky, she sniffed a few breaths of air, and caught her father's scent but couldn't tell whether it was from when he might've left for work or if he was still asleep. All she needed right now was for him to have gotten a late start to his morning and notice a coyote entering his house. That situation would either end with her having to come clean to her father about what she was, or he would just shoot at her, and judging by the fact that he had already done the latter once already, she wanted to avoid that scenario like the plague.

Walking on her toes, she silently pawed her way to her room and quickly turned back into a human. She looked around her room for a few minutes, but figured that it was unlikely that anything happened. Her dad had once checked in on her before he left for work and had found her lying naked underneath her comforter. She had screamed at his intrusion and he never entered her room in the morning again. Even though that was how she chose to sleep, she figured him believing that she slept in the nude was better than explaining that she was out all night.

As quietly as possible, she got back into bed, still not wanting to press her luck, rolled over to her nightstand and picked up her phone. As per usual, a message from Scott was waiting for her, he had texted her every night for the past two weeks and ever night she would give him the same answer.

'still no sign of them'

They've been looking for these new werewolves ever since she had first caught their scent but their searches have proven fruitless. These wolves apparently could mask their scents, meaning that they would have to rely on their other senses. She had taken it upon herself to go out nearly every night and look, sometime accompanied by either Scott, Liam, or Hayden but she did much better on her own.

Another buzz from her phone, and anther text from Scott. He usually didn't respond to her message, so she was curious as to what it was about.

'Okay. Don't worry about going out tonight 'Lia, we'll handle it. You get some rest.'

She couldn't help but smile at the message, though she had every intention to ignore his suggestion. Though she appreciated that Scott cared about everyone a lot, she didn't need to be babysat. It didn't mean that she wasn't going to do it, no she realized that she did need the rest, but she was protesting it in spirit.

She reclined on top of her comforter, still without a stitch of clothing, and laid her head on top of her pillow in hopes of getting at least a few hours of sleep, but her head refused to settle enough for her to slip into unconsciousness. Her mind buzzed as she thought about the new pack who were in town, before it quickly shifted to thoughts about her friends.

A first she thought about Liam, but there wasn't much there. He was a good kid and she got along with him well enough but they were never all that close. The same thing happened with Corey, Mason, and Hayden, she just didn't spend much time with any of them.

Her mind hen drifted to her alpha Scott. Her thought as they pertained to him were difficult to describe. Though there was a physical attraction there, as far as she could tell, there was nothing emotional about their relationship. She purposefully kept her thoughts from going back to that night, especially since Scott was adamant that they forget it and move on. Still, she felt that they had a bond but she knew it would never travel beyond a physical one.

Thoughts of Scott also brought brief thoughts of Kira. She missed her friend, but understood that her leaving was for the best and even figured that she was lucky to have escaped from their last few adventures. She lamented the fact that she may never see the kitsune again, but she figured that she just had to deal with it.

Lydia, was an interesting case in and of itself. She was initially wary of girl, but they eventually formed a very close bond and friendship over time. That was until they rescued Stiles from the Wild Hunt. With Stiles and Lydia together, Malia felt resentful of the two of them, but she knew it would happen eventually and decided to get over it. What bothered her more was that Lydia's connection to Stiles was enough to open a rift into the Wild Hunt. She had a tough time accepting the definitive proof that Lydia meant more to Stiles than she herself was stung, and because of that she had been distant for months now.

She refused to let her thoughts turn to Stiles. Though she didn't hate him, she didn't want to waste any precious thoughts on him now, especially since he left without saying anything to her, only reaffirming her belief that maybe she didn't mean anything to him. She chastised herself for going that far with her self-doubt. She and Stiles had talked shortly after he was rescued and he let her know that he did indeed love her, but he felt he could never love her like she loved him and called things off. She could smell that he was telling the truth, but it didn't make it any easier to handle.

Her mind finally settled enough for her to finally drift off to sleep. She hoped that she would find peace in the sanctity of her dreams, but it wasn't meant to be. She found herself in Scott's kitchen, the pack was gathered for a regular meeting. It started off like a normal meeting, they were discussing the werewolves again, this time news that they had attacked someone had reached their ears. When she stated that she had yet to find them, when Scott slammed his fist on the table in front of them.

"Damnit Malia! You said you could find them. We trusted you to find them, and now they've spilled blood." The dream her recoiled as the icy nature of his voice. She had never seen Scott so angry before.

"You've failed us too many times Malia! I think it's time for you to leave!"

Malia gasped as the rest of the pack uttered their affirmation with the idea. The fear that they would abandon her came back with full force, but the torture wasn't over yet.

The door behind them opened to reveal that Stiles had returned. He walked up to Lydia, put an arm around her shoulder and directed a glare at Malia.

"Thank god. I couldn't stay with her around anymore. I'm glad that I won't have to put up with her any further." With a dismissive wave in Malia's direction, he turned to Lydia and pulled her into a passionate embrace, one more impassioned than any he shared with her, and Malia cried out in heartbreak.

She bolted upright, the visions of her dream still fresh as she gasped for breath. With the image of Stiles' rejection replaying in her mind, she resigned herself that she wasn't getting any sleep tonight. She quickly threw on some clothes and headed to the only place she thought she could go.

* * *

Scott had said that the McCall house was always open to anyone, though she expected that few people besides herself, Stiles, Kira, and Isaac had ever taken him up on that offer. She briefly wondered if he would want to take that back, as she climbed up to his bedroom window at three o'clock in the morning.

Easing the window open as gently as she could, she was grateful that she had yet to wake him up. It would be easier to deal with if he didn't wake up until she was already in the room. With an easiness that anyone else would've found weird, she shucked off all her closes except for the panties that she had on, pulled back the covers, and climbed into bed besides Scott. Without waking up, almost as if by instinct, his arms found their way around her waist, and pulled her against his chest, causing her to sigh in contentment.

This had happened a few times over the last six months or so. After they defeated the Beast, her and Scott had begun spending more time together, especially since they were both dealing with recent heartbreak. It eventually graduated to her sleeping over like she was now and that was all it was for many months.

Then the Wild Hunt happened. With all the memories of Stiles flooding back, they both were an emotional wreck, and a few weeks later when she ended up in Scott's bed, all the hurt got the better of them and they slept together. While Malia felt so content that she didn't want to move when she woke up the next morning, Scott felt like he had taken advantage of her and told her that they should forget it ever happened. Easier said than done.

They hadn't slept in the same bed since that night but Malia couldn't help but relish the safety she felt in his arms. She didn't feel for Scott like she did for Stiles, but she knew that she just needed the physical affection. Ever since the breakup, she had slept with a few guys but she never felt like she did with Stiles, not until Scott. She knew she wasn't in love with Scott, but as she felt his arms tighten around her waist as he slowly began to awaken, she felt she could learn to.

"M-Malia?" came Scott's groggy voice from behind her. His hand explored up from her waist and found its way to her breast. She felt him stiffen, as she figured that he realized that he wasn't dreaming. "What are you doing here?"

"I had trouble sleeping tonight so I figured that I could come over here."

"Malia," his voice sounded exasperated coming behind her, "we can't be doing this anymore."

"Nothing is happening Scott, well at least there wasn't." it took a moment for Scott to realize what she was talking about, and to notice that his hand was still on her breast, before hastily pulling it away. She turned over in the bed to look in his face before continuing. "Besides, why shouldn't we. Kira may not come back and Stiles' obviously moved on.

Scott's face sobered when she mentioned Stiles, his top most hand unconsciously drifting up to her face. "Malia, that's not true. I'm sure Stiles-"

She didn't want to hear whatever excuse he had for his best friend, so Malia shut him up in the best way she knew how, she kissed him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she trapped him in her embrace, brushing her tongue against the seam of his lips before he could react. Scott reacted instinctively and wrapped his arms around her as well. Her hands traveled up and down his muscular chest, as his hands stroked alongside her lower back and thighs. Flashes of their previous tryst flashed in Malia's mind, and she groaned helplessly as she felt her core begin to warm up.

They continued as a leisurely pace, but it wasn't enough for Malia. She slid over top of him and ground herself against his straining arousal. The movement caused a groan from Scott, but when she wrapped her hand around him, it seemed to break whatever spell there was between them.

"Malia, we can't."

She could tell by the look on his face that they weren't going any further, so she placed a quick kiss on his lips, and before he could protest any further, returned to her former position, but this time she wrapped her arms around his waist. Looking over his shoulder, she could tell that Scott wanted to say something, but he too saw that his arguing wouldn't change anything and the two of the slowly drifted back to sleep.

* * *

Despite their encounter earlier that morning, Malia and Scott went about their day as if nothing had happened. They never told the rest of the pack about the last time they had sex, Malia out of a need for privacy, though she didn't know Scott's real reason for keeping it a secret, even from Stiles. She knew that he meant it when he said it was a one-time thing, but if Malia was anything, she was determined. She didn't want any commitment, the only other time she sought that was with Stiles and look how that turned out. No, all she wanted was physical comfort. She knew that it was a temporary fix to a bigger problem, but she wasn't ready for anything serious quite yet.

Her and Scott had hung out for a few hours, thankfully without any of the awkwardness that was there the last time they did it, but Malia could tell that Scott's mind was somewhere else. She immediately assumed that he was thinking about Kira, but the kitsune had been gone for over 6 months now. Surely, he should've moved on by now right?

Without any other explanation, she decided to just drop the subject and hey hung out at his house watching TV and eating popcorn. This was their regular routine for most of senior year. Despite her initial reluctance to after her break up with Stiles, she did eventually come to Scott to confide in often, usually at least once a week. While they watched TV, he managed to coax her nightmare out of her and listened about her fears of abandonment. He quickly wrapped her up in a hug, and she felt compelled to try and seek comfort from him again, but she knew that it wouldn't go anywhere. Instead, they continued to watch TV until she eventually let her fears and Stiles' departure leave her mind.

She went back home after that and hung out with her dad for a few hours, until he decided to go to bed for the night. Once he was asleep, she went back out into the woods, more to clear her head, but she would look for the rogue wolves while she was at it. Walking absent mindedly, she unconsciously brought herself back to the sight of the crash that killed her mother and sister, causing the fear of losing people to envelope her once more. She simply sat down and looked at the remains of her family's old car, for how long she didn't know, all she did know was that the moon had moved across the sky by the time she noticed.

A twig snapped behind her and she whipped around, claws, and was met by Liam holding his hands in a defensive position.

"Whoa Malia! It's just me!"

"You have five seconds to explain what you're doing out here before I rip your throat out."

His eyes widened comically, which she would've found funny if she wasn't extremely irritated. "Okay, Okay," he said as he took a precautionary step backwards. "Scott worried that you're working yourself too hard and he wanted me to go check on you."

Malia glare only intensified, a sigh escaping her. She should've known that that is why Liam was here.

"Well, tell him that I'm fine. I don't need you out here keeping an eye on me." She turned and began to walk away intent on trying to walk her problems away. After a few steps, she heard footsteps behind her, and whipped back around to tell Liam off once again. "Can't you go hang out with Hayden or something?"

He cast his eyes downward, and even though Malia still occasionally had difficulty acknowledging others' emotions, she could tell that that wasn't the right thing to say.

"We've been having some problems lately. Her parents are considering moving to San Francisco before the end of summer."

"If it's her parent's idea, then why are you two fighting?"

"Because she wants to move!" His labored breathing and increasing heart rate clued Malia into to his distressed state, and deciding that she didn't need to try and fend off an enrage supernatural teenager, she placed a hand on his shoulder and tried consoling him. Thankfully, he managed to get himself under control. "She claims that the schools are better out there and she can't afford to pass up the opportunity, but I don't know. She tried to hide this from me."

Malia was about to attempt to console him but a rustling behind them. She tried to turn in time but a body slammed into her knocking her to the ground. Her vision darkened briefly from the impact and she felt rather than saw a body drop on top of her. Once her vision cleared she saw that the thing on top of her was another werewolf. He raised his claws up to slash at her throat, when Liam slammed his shoulder into him and knocked him off.

Before she could get up onto her feet she saw that another werewolf had shown up and had teamed up with the other one to attack Liam. One held his arms behind his back, while the new attacker slashed at his chest repeatedly. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw another charge at her, but she was ready this time, grabbing the oncoming arm that was singing for her and tossing them into a nearby tree.

Liam had managed to break himself free during the struggle and regrouped with Malia. They stood next to each other as the werewolves picked themselves up off the ground and began to surround them. Claws and fangs out, the two of them readied themselves for another attack when a roar from their right rang from the darkness. One more body leapt from the shadows and forced their attackers to scatter. Sensing the opportunity, Malia charged forward and slashed one of them across the chest, as Liam dropkicked another one, forcing them to retreat.

Malia turned to see who had helped them, but couldn't stop the growl from exiting her throat at the sight of her father standing there with a smirk on his face,

"Well, well, well, and here I distinctly remember you saying that you didn't need me."

"We had it covered _Peter_ ," she growled, smirking internally when she saw his smirk die when she called him by his first name. She only did it when she was aggravated with him. She had begrudgingly tried to include him in her life, but that was easier said than done. "You only came in there at the end. How long did you wait before you decided to play hero?"

"Come now Malia. Can't a father worry and care for his own daughter?"

"He does, but I'm pretty sure a human couldn't do much to stop a werewolf."

When Peter's expression dropped to a bonified scowl, Malia felt that she said enough and stalked off back to her house. Liam looked one look at Peter, one of unconcealed loathing before taking off after her.

 _ **AN:**_

 _ **As you can see, Malia's got some things to work though over the course of this story. Most of the subplots that she's going to have are introduced here so I hope that I've done her character justice.**_

 _ **There may be one more character centric chapter before the focus on the new werewolves becomes a bigger part of the story. Next Chapter will be a Scott chapter and will also have some revelations about Lydia. Some people might've figured out what it is, but hopefully I can still surprise more people.**_

 _ **Since I've finished my story "Life's Detour" this story is now going to be my focus going forward. I also have plans to do a Scott/ Lydia story that takes place across all of Teen Wolf and I hope to start that up here soon.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading!**_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"I'm sorry Scott, but since I'm halfway across the state right now, the best I can do is give some advice."

"At this point, I'll take all the help I can get." The phone call went on for several minutes, while the former hunter attempted to teach him how to track foot prints and provide any insight he could quickly.

"If there's anything else Scott, feel free to call. I should be back within the week, so if you haven't found them by then I'll help. Also, if you could let your mom know when I'll be back that would be appreciated." Scott groaned, he still wasn't feeling completely comfortable about his ex-girlfriend's dad dating his mom, but he figured he'd eventually get used to it. Chris sensed his discomfort and laughed briefly before bidding Scott goodbye before hanging up.

He hung his head as familiar thoughts about futility and giving up entered his mind again. They were still looking for the werewolves that came to Beacon Hills and after nearly three weeks of searching, they weren't any closer to finding them. He understood that many werewolves could mask their scent's but he'd never seen anything like this. It appears, whoever the three of them were, they were experts at moving about without detection, keeping their activities covert.

Still, though the fight nearly went badly, Malia and Liam running into them was a blessing in disguise. They now knew that there were at least three of them, 2 men and 1 women. There was the chance that there were more of them, but that was unlikely. Larger numbers meant that it would be nearly impossible for them to maintain the level of anonymity that they had.

Deciding that sitting in his room and moping was doing any good, he decided to head back into the preserve and try and find any clues. He briefly considered contacting someone else but since they had investigated the area the last two nights after the altercation, he didn't want to drag the pack out there in the off chance that he didn't find anything. Instead, he climbed on his bike and headed out to search, alone.

* * *

Scott glanced around the clearing he'd been in for the last three hours again, trying to determine whether he missed anything or not. Following Argent's advice, he tried to find any footprints and follow him, but was chagrined to find the prints had been trampled on by joggers and wildlife, making tracking that way ineffective. Frustrated, he punched a nearby tree, leaving a whole where his fist had made an impact.

"What am I missing?" he growled angrily. He knew that if he didn't try to calm himself down, there would be all kinds of issues. He took a deep breath in through his nose to try and calm his breathing when he noticed something he didn't before.

There was a scent.

Up until this point, they hadn't caught a scent from the wolves at all, but for some reason, their stench was heavy here. Taking another breath, he tried to get a feeling for the scent. At first, it only concluded what he already knew; there were three of them, 2 males, one female. He tried to pick out any chemo-signals that they were giving off, and was startled when the emotion that they were giving off wasn't aggression, but fear. This led to him ask the obvious question-

 _What were they so afraid of?_

If fear was what drove them to Beacon Hills, he didn't want to know what the cause of it was. He would've elaborated his thoughts further, but at that moment, a scream echoed from somewhere deeper in the forest. Without a thought towards his ow safety, he sprinted towards the source of the scream, hoping that whoever it was, was okay, as trees zipped by him as he ran. When he finally arrived on the scene, he wasn't surprised to find Malia already there. He wanted to chastise her for not taking it easy like he suggested, but there were more pressing matters.

Like the dead body of a hiker that lay only feet away from the trailer.

They both moved cautiously towards the person standing next to the body, a blonde-haired girl who looked in her early twenties, and seemed near hysterics. She jumped and shrieked when she finally noticed them, causing Scott to hold up his hands to show that they meant her no harm.

"Don't worry we're not here to hurt you?"

"Yeah," the girl shrieked, her eyes full of distrust as she backed herself up against a nearby tree, "that's what they said and look what happened to Amber!"

"We just heard you scream and we wanted to see if we could help. We have no reason to hurt you-"

"Kaylin"

"Kaylin, can you tell us what happened?"

"My girlfriend and I were just going for a jog. She's been on a health kick lately and dragged me along. I didn't really want to go but it made her happy so…" Her words were replaced with sobs as the memories threatened to overcome her.

"It's okay. We know that it must be hard, but we can't help if you don't tell us."

"They came out of the forest," she began once her shaking subsided a little bit, "There were five of them. One of them asked for directions to someone's house that we didn't recognize. We told them that we had no idea and the guy seemed to get angry. We tried to leave but two of them grabbed us. I tried to fight back, but the man that grabbed me seemed inhumanly strong. All I could do was watch as the one who talked to slashed her repeated with a knife. At least, I think it was…"

"Hey, it's okay," Scott put hand on her shoulder reassuringly as his gaze traveled to Malia. The look in her eyes told him that she was thinking the same thing. The werewolves had killed and that means that they needed to be stopped before someone else got hurt. Malia turned pulled out her phone and dialed 911.

"Don't worry, the cops are on their way. I do have one question though," her eyes widened in fear for a second, but at the reassuring look Scott gave her she calmed down and nodded her head for him to continue. "Did they say whose address they were looking for?"

"Yeah…someone named McCall."

Scott and Malia quickly looked to each other with wide eyes, before they bid Kaylin goodbye and headed back to where Scott had come in.

"If they're actually after you, then we need to let the others know."

"I know. We need to tell everyone to meet up at my house so we can come up with a plan. I'll call Liam and tell him to let Hayden, Corey and Mason know, while you call Lydia." He noticed briefly that Malia stiffened at his order to call Lydia but bit down her on her personal problems and pulled out her phone as she began to run back in the direction of her house.

He pulled out his own phone and Called Liam. He waited by his bike for a few seconds before the Beta picked up after five rings.

"What's up Scott?"

"I need you to get a hold of Hayden, Corey, Mason, and Theo. A jogger was attacked and it looks like those wolves are behind it."

"Okay, I'll call Mason, Corey's probably with him. I actually don't know how to get a hold of Theo, he usually just shows up."

"What about Hayden?"

"We haven't been on the best of terms lately, but I'll try."

"Alright, I'll see you there."

He hung up his phone and got on his bike, helmet in hand. He was about to start the bike up when his phone went off again. Pulling it back out, he saw that he had a text from Malia.

 _M - Couldn't get ahold of Lydia. Do u want me to go by her house? -_

 _S – I'm closer. Ill stop by and grab her. –_

He put his phone away and started to make his way towards Lydia's house. Her house also happened to be on the way to his house from the Preserve so it wasn't too far out of the way. The drive to her house was second-nature anymore, from all the times she had a premonition and wound up in the woods with no memory of how she got there, all the way to the time that they spent together when Stiles was taken by the Wild Hunt.

He pulled onto her street and noticed that there was a truck parked on the other side of the street. He didn't think much of it; Mrs. Martin still put herself out there and he assumed that she was entertaining a new boyfriend as he dismounted his bike. He walked up to the front door and knocked on the door a few times.

He didn't get a response. He noticed to his right that Lydia's car was there, while her mother's was absent, which confused him further. He turned the door knob expecting it to be locked, but he was once again surprised to find that the house was unlocked. Sensing that something was off, he slowly stepped into the house as quietly as he could.

At first glance, there was no sign of life in the house. With measured steps, he made his way into the living room, which was in pristine condition, not that that surprised him. The Martins rarely used the room, meaning that nothing was out of the ordinary. _Yet._

He was about to enter the kitchen when he heard a sound come from upstairs. His instincts wanted him to charge up and investigate but he managed to control himself, and went up the stairs soundlessly. He walked down the upstairs hallway, towards Lydia's room which was about halfway down when he heard a voice coming from her room.

"I don't get why you don't understand."

The voice was obviously Lydia's, and judging by the tone of her vice, she wasn't in distress.

"Come on, Lydia. I think it's time for -"

"I don't think their ready yet."

Scott's eyes widened once he recognized who the voice belonged to. Theo! Why was he at Lydia's house, _and in her room_? And what weren't they ready for?

"Come on, haven't I proven the last few months that I'm one of the good guys."

"I don't think the others believe that quite yet." Scott couldn't help but agree with Lydia. He had to admit that Theo hadn't done anything, _yet_ , but he still couldn't trust him. The fact that Lydia was acknowledging this but was still entertaining him in her room was baffling.

"I got you to believe, didn't I."

The next thing he heard was the sound of shuffling followed by a soft moan. Expecting the worst, Scott burst through the doors, but nothing could prepare him for what he found inside.

He found the two of them on Lydia's bed, locked in a heated kiss. Theo's shirt was missing while Lydia was bereft of all except her bra and underwear. The commotion he caused startled the two of them, making them fly apart as Lydia attempted to use the covers to cover herself up.

"Scott? What are you doing here?" Her eyes were wide, as if she expected him to wolf out and attack them at any moment.

"We found a body in the woods, so we're calling a pack meeting. Malia's been trying to get a hold of you."

Lydia blushed for a moment as she reached for her phone on the nightstand. Sure enough, she saw that she had two missed calls and four texts from the were-coyote.

"I had my phone on silent."

"Yeah, I can see why?" He failed to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but he wasn't 100% sure why he was so upset. Why was she doing this? And why Theo?

"Scott, I can explain-"

"Later," he shot back at her, causing her to visibly recoil. Any other time, he would cringe at the forcefulness of his voice, but right now, he was too angry to care. "Right now, finding out where these new wolves are is most important." He turned to the door abruptly, intent on getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible. As he crossed the threshold, he looked back over his shoulder and barely kept an even voice, "Get dressed. I'll see you at my house."

With that he left without looking back at the two of them.

 _ **AN:**_

 _ **So, we find out who Lydia's been seeing. I figure most people realized that it was Theo right off the bat, and I assume that others might be confused as to why. Don't worry, I'll explain the whole situation over the next chapter or two.**_

 _ **I find it slightly funny that I posted the least chapter, which had a Scalia scene in it, and then not even a week later, the 6B trailer came out and confirmed that Scalia was happening. On top of that, the trailer showed off a lot about what will happen in the final 10 episodes. Originally, I planned to not follow 6B all that closely, but after seeing the trailer, I might try to incorporate some elements of it into maybe story, including some of character returns. We'll have to see how this story continues to progress.**_

 _ **Starting next chapter, each chapter might not be from one person's perspective, instead shifting from person to person. I mostly wanted to spend a little time setting up the character's relationships in this story and now that the groundwork is set up, I think the story can progress a little faster.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading!**_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **Lydia's POV –**

The atmosphere in the McCall's kitchen could only be described as tense. Even if a majority of the pack didn't know what had caused the tension, it was obvious that it involved Scott, Lydia, and Theo. Most of them were clearly trying to stay put of it, except for Malia who was currently directing a glare at herself and Theo, though it was mostly at Theo.

The only thing that Lydia regretted about the whole thing, was how Scott had found out about her… _relationship_? She wasn't exactly sure what the proper word was for her and Theo's current status. It definitely wasn't a relationship because it was purely physical, but it also wasn't a friends-with-benefits type thing because they weren't necessarily friends. Either way, she didn't regret what they were doing, just that Scott had to find out by walking in on them. She did, however, feel a tiny sliver of guilt because she wasn't sure if she ever planned on telling them, but she quickly abolished the feeling and focused back on the meeting.

"So, the plan is to capture them?" Lydia had to try her best refrain from sighing. Of course, it was Liam who would voice the most obvious question. Why were they leaving the fate of Beacon Hills to him again?

"Exactly." The confused look on the Betas face would've laughable if the previously mentioned tension hadn't sucked any light heartedness from the meeting.

"And how are we supposed to do that, when we couldn't find them before?"

"Because you didn't have me." The voice came from Argent who had just entered the kitchen, Melissa following right behind them. Scott had the decency to look slightly ashamed at the fact that he had interrupted date night to have a pack meeting, but they all knew that if these werewolves were killing people, then they needed to find them immediately. "I managed to track them from where the body was found, to the bottom of the ravine that's in the Preserve. That's where you should start if you want to find them."

Scott nodded before he turned to address the rest of the pack. "We know where they are, now we need to go down there and stop them, and to do that we're going to need everyone." His eyes drifted to Theo, over to her, then back to Theo again, before his attention returned to the rest of the room. The conversation continued for several minutes, and when the plan was hashed out completely, many of them began to disperse. Melissa and Argent disappeared into another room to get some privacy, while Liam, Mason, and Corey all left together, leaving just Scott, Malia, herself, and Theo left.

Both Scott and Malia slowly gravitated together, seemingly intent on ignoring her and Theo, and though she kept a mask of disinterest, but she couldn't shake the hurt feeling she felt on the inside. Scott had become one of her best friends over the last 2 and a half years, and she couldn't help but notice that Scott had comforted Malia a lot recently, making her wish that he would do the same for her. She wasn't about to falter because he disapproved of her choices however. She had proven multiple times that she's able to handle herself and wouldn't stand for him trying to interfere in her life.

She felt an arm wrap around her shoulder, startling her slightly, but she quickly realized that it was Theo. She gave him a thankful smile and tried to subtly lean into him and take in his comfort. She never thought that she would find physical comfort in Theo, the guy who left her in the woods in a catatonic state, but she couldn't deny that she was thankful that someone was there for her, even if it was just in a physical sense. She needed a lifeline ever since Stiles left, and even though, deep down she knew that she should have trusted either Scott or Malia with her problems, it was easier to fall back onto old habits.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the other pair in the room stilled at Theo's action, but she found it difficult to care. They wouldn't understand why she was with him and resigned herself to that, as he began to direct her out of the house. They were in the threshold leading to the living room, when a hand on her arm stopped them. She turned to see Scott looking at her with a questioning gaze. Obvious that it was that she wasn't getting out of this, she gave Theo a nod, telling him to wait on her outside. Malia left as well, and once she and Scott were alone, he took in a deep breath before finally voicing what had been eating at him since he had found her and Theo.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

She felt her temper skyrocket. She knew that he was likely to say this, but to actually hear it did nothing to still her growing frustration. She wasn't helpless. Why couldn't anyone see this?

"I can take care of myself Scott." She hoped that this would satisfy him. She quickly realized that it wouldn't.

"I know that but I still feel like I have to ask."

"Why don't you trust me?" His frown deepened at her insinuation.

"You know that's not true Lydia. It's him I don't trust," he reached out and touched her shoulder and when they made eye contact, her frustration almost melted away. _Almost_. "Remember, this is the guy who killed me. Who left you for dead in the woods."

"You think I don't' remember that!" she said as she smacked his hand away from her shoulder. "You may be the Alpha Scott, but I don't need you to make my decisions for me" he visibly recoiled at her outburst, but all of the tension that had filled her body since Stiles left kept her from caring all that much.

"Lydia-"

"No Scott. I know what I'm doing. You need to accept that," and before he could reply, she hastily made her way out of the house towards Theo's truck.

* * *

 **Malia's POV –**

Malia saw that Scott was holding Lydia back so that he could talk to her. While the meeting was taking place, Malia could smell Scott's frustration and anger, while she also took note of how closely Lydia and Theo were standing next to each other, so it wasn't hard to put two and two together. What she was confused about were a couple of other scents that she picked up on, specifically slight hints of jealousy from both Scott and Lydia. She chose to ignore it and instead decided to use the opportunity to confront Theo.

She accosted him outside his truck, slamming him against the side of it before he could open the door. After overcoming the initial shock, he seemed to be pleased by her presence, which only served to aggravate her more.

"What the hell are you up to?"

He looked confused, whether it was feigned or genuine she neither knew nor cared. "I have no idea what you're talking about?"

"What are you doing with Lydia?"

"Is that jealousy I detect, Malia?" In response, she slammed him into the truck again, initially bringing out a groan, but was quickly followed by a nearly inaudible chuckle. She had to bite back whatever retort that wanted to spew from her mouth, mostly because she was annoyed that she knew he was right. She knew since he was part were-coyote, that it affected her disposition towards him, making her almost unconsciously feel a slight pull towards him. She refused to acknowledge it, instead focusing on the fact that this was the man who had almost killed her Alpha and had shot her with a shotgun.

"Answer the question. Why are you using Lydia?"

"Using her?" This time his laugh came out as a bark, only adding further fuel to her anger, but also increasing her confusion. "You think that I was the one who started this?" She didn't respond, her silence was clear enough that that was exactly what she thought. "She's the one who came to me, sweetheart. Besides, I'm not the kind of guy to turn down-"

She refused to hear the rest of what he was saying, and his use of the word "sweetheart" clipped the last of her patience before she punched him in the face. Theo went sprawling to the ground, that infuriating grin still on his face, only making her want to punch him again. Before she could raise her hand up to strike again, her wrist was caught by someone else.

"What the hell Malia?"

She regarded Lydia angrily for sticking up for Theo, still trying to wrap her head around how these two had ended up together. Her anger was getting the better of her, and she couldn't stop herself from turning and berating her friend for her perceived carelessness.

"Is everything alright out here?"

Argent's voice sliced through the tension easily, giving Malia plenty of time to compose herself as Lydia helped Theo to his feet.

"Yes. We were just leaving." With a final glare directed at Malia, Lydia got into Theo's truck and the two of them pulled out onto the street and left. Malia's eyes stayed locked onto the vehicle until they were out of sight, remaining panted in that spot until she felt Argent put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

She turned towards the older man and couldn't repress the small smile on her face. With her relationship with her adoptive father still as strained as ever and her relationship with Peter, while better, still had a way to go, Argent had become another father figure in her life over the last couple of months. While she had difficult relationships with the two men who had more claim to that title, the former hunter had become something of a confidant.

"Theo's up to something." She paused to collect her breath, her eyes looking back in the direction that the truck had gone, but she wasn't really looking that way, her eyes looking more reflective. "I mean, this is the guy who shot me with a shotgun and was willing to give me up to my psychotic mother, just so that he could get some claws to steal The Beast's power. There has to be a reason that he's with Lydia."

Argent's eyes locked on the direction that the pair in question went. "Lydia's a smart girl. She can handle herself."

"I still don't trust him."

They both turned to look at each other. Argent once again placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"Then trust her."

Their gaze broke, and though deep down she knew he was right, it was still hard to imagine how this situation could turn out good in any way.

"Why don't I give you a ride home. I'm heading out that way anyway." She ran from her house to here and had initially planned on doing the same to go home, but ultimately decided to take up his offer and climbed into his car.

The ride itself wasn't terribly long, causing her to wonder if it would've been better to just run home instead. They rode in silence, which Malia was usually fine with, but with all the revelations and thoughts that they pack meeting brought about, she was left alone in her own mind and for once, she wished that it wasn't so silent. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before they made it to her house. She gave him a quick thank you, then headed inside, and straight to her room.

Flopping down on her bed, she did her best to try and purge the thoughts of Theo and Lydia from her mind. Tried, being the operative word. Distrust and frustration simmered and grew within her as she couldn't help but try to figure out what Theo was up to. Her distrust caused her mind to drift back to the military base and Theo's role there.

Almost unconsciously, she opened her bedside drawer and pulled out a jar. The jar itself wasn't anything special, the contents however, was a completely different story. Inside, were five elongated claws that had a faint blue glow to them.

By themselves, they weren't much, but to her, they represented her mother. Not in a happy sort of way, but specifically, how her mother had tried to kill her, twice. First, they were the reason that Theo turned her over to her mother, and then she managed to thwart her mother's attempts to kill her by using the to steal her power. To be honest, she wasn't sure why she kept them, there were no happy memories associated with them, but they were a reminder of what she went through.

Not wanting to be in that place any, she put them back into the drawer, before changing for bed. She was back where she was ten minutes ago, and she still had problems clearing her mind enough to fall asleep. After another ten minutes of lying there, she got up to use the bathroom, when she heard a knock coming from her window. Whipping around, she was met by the sight of Scott crouching out in front of her window. She opened the window to let him in and was a little startled by the look on his face.

"What are you doing here?"

When he locked eyes with her, she saw that judging by the look in his eyes, he seemed lost.

"Normally, you're the one who comes to me, so I figured…" he left his statement aloof, but it was clear that he felt as though he needed someone to talk to.

"Okay. Well, what did you want to talk about?"

He was silent for a few moments before he finally could formulate an answer. "With everything that's been happening, I can't help but feel like things are going to get bad again."

"We've dealt with things like this before. We'll make it."

"I don't know. I can't help but feel like our luck is gonna run out. I don't want to lose anyone else."

"Hey," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone, "You got me, and I'm not going anywhere."

When he next looked at her, his expression was one of wonder and something that almost looked like affection. Before she had any time to react, he quickly closed the distance between them and caught her lips in a kiss. Frozen in shock, she didn't respond, causing him to think that he had made a wrong choice.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have. I'll just-"

She didn't let him get any further, pulling him back in and quickly sliding her tongue into his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck. After his own shock, he quickly returned the embrace, pulling her close and attempted to lay her down on the bed. Deciding against that, Malia used their combined momentum to roll herself on top before grinding down onto his no hardened erection.

The moan that he let out as they kissed only added to further to the fire she was feeling. Her hands gripped the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off, thankful that she had forgone a bra that evening. Seeing the unrestrained desire in his eyes, the two of them made quick work of the rest of their clothing. Without any further preamble, she lowered herself onto him, her eyes unconsciously closing at the feeling.

Their motions began small, Malia slowly rocking her hips against him, but they soon worked themselves into a frenzy, and they began rutting frantically. There was something about being on top, being the dominant one, that got Malia off, her own pleasure soaring as she dictated the pace that the two of them took. Not that Scott was an idle participant, his hands locked onto her waist helping her impassioned movements, all whilst rolling his hips up to her.

In the back of her kind, Malia noticed a difference between the last time they had sex and this time. Whereas previously Scott had been malleable to her provocations, almost passive in a way, this time he seemed to be trying to get as much out of it as she was. She briefly wondered whether this had anything to do with the situation earlier, but the thought left her as both of Scott' hands left her waist and instead came to the back of her neck.

Pulling her head down to his, their lips briefly met, and Malia, deciding to tease him a little more, bit down lightly on his bottom lips, causing his hips to jolt suddenly, forcing a moan from her. She wasn't given time to do it again as Scott had brought his forehead to hers, locking their eyes, and began to furiously pump his hips up into her.

She gasped at the sensation of Scott's erratic movements, forcing all the breath out of her and having the blissful effect of having her pleasure soar so much, that she climaxed almost out of nowhere. She felt the waves of pleasure coarse through her until they were nothing but small aftershocks, until it became apparent that Scott had gotten off.

Surprising her once more, he rolled them over so that he was on top and immediate returned to his previous rigorous pace. He pulled her hips off the bed, leaving only her head and shoulders connected to it, and Malia allowed herself to be pulled right back into it. She was never submissive in bed, but she couldn't deny the results as Scott took charge of their encounter. She arched her back until the only thing still on the bed was her head, allowing Scott to reach even deeper within her, making another orgasm start to build within her.

She suddenly launched herself forward so that he was the only thing holding her up, and then wrapped her arms around him. She knew that the end was coming as his thrusts became jerkier, but she was still a way off from a climax of her own. As if sensing it, one of Scott's hands found her bundle of nerves and she was lost. As the embraced the ecstasy once again, she felt Scott pull from her and empty himself over her stomach.

With them both satisfied, they laid back down on the bed, Malia so tired and content that she didn't fight when he pulled her back into his chest and forced her to be the little spoon. As she started to lose consciousness, she once again compared this experience to the last one, and even though this time was more physically satisfying, she couldn't shake the fact that it wasn't as emotionally fulfilling.

She couldn't ponder it further as sleep took her over, and couldn't stop the sinking feeling she felt when she woke up alone in her bed.

 _ **AN –**_

 _ **Sorry for the slightly late update. I spent three weeks straight writing my story "Moments of Comfort" and wanted to take a short break from writing, and I wanted to enjoy the start of 6B without worrying about writing a chapter. This was my first stab at writing a lemon and I hope that it works. Originally, it was supposed to be more explicit, but I decided that it didn't fit with the tone of the story and the characters.**_

 _ **In case some of you haven't figured it out, this story will eventually be Scydia. With that in mind, before someone says that Scott wouldn't have casual sex with someone because he's jealous of Theo and Lydia, remember in Season 1, he made out with Lydia after Allison broke up with him. Granted, he was being influenced by the full moon, but I'm allowed some creative liberties. Also, a slight spoiler to placate those people, Scott leaves before Malia wakes up because he feels guilty.**_

 _ **I should be back on a regular update schedule. I will warn you that the social stuff is more important than the other threats, so that plot might move really quickly so that it can keep pace with the relationship problems.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading**_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Scott was the first one to make it to the edge of the ravine. Though he was hesitant to admit it, the main reason that he arrived so early was so that he could have some time where he wouldn't have to deal with the rest of the pack. It wasn't that he was avoiding everyone, specifically Liam and Corey, it was all the others that were making him apprehensive.

The whole Theo and Lydia thing still had him rattled. He still couldn't trust the chimera and though he had to admit that Lydia was right after their conversation two days ago, it didn't mean that he had to like it. It also didn't mean that he wasn't going to say anything to Theo, just to make sure that he didn't get any ideas.

On top of all that, there was Malia. In a moment of weakness, he found himself at her house one night and though he tried to convince himself that he was truly there just to talk, deep down he knew that it was a lie. He had taken his frustration out through their passionate coupling, and though Malia had definitely enjoyed it, he could stop the welling guilt that settled in his stomach when he woke up with her in his arms that morning. He left before she could wake up and though they had interacted in the days since, the awkwardness was still there. He didn't like being that guy, but equally as resigned as he was guilty to the fact that it would probably happen again.

He needed this alone time to be able to clear his head. With how messed up all his personal relationships seemed to be recently, he couldn't afford for his focus to be anywhere except on the task at hand. He willed his mind to clear of all thoughts of Malia, Theo, and especially Lydia, though deep down, he knew that it was easier said than done.

As if summoned by his thoughts, he heard the telltale signs of a vehicle pulling up behind him. It took one whiff of the exhaust and the sound of the brakes and the engine to determine who it was that had shown up, and naturally, it was someone he didn't want to be alone with.

He turned around as the driver's side door to Theo's truck opened, but as he waited for the passenger side door to open, it never did. Evidently, Lydia and Theo had decided to show up separately. Theo walked up as casually as possible, as if he didn't know about the tension between them, but before he could make it the whole way forward, Scott cut him off.

"Scott."

"Theo."

They both stared at each other for several moments, the faintest of smirks on Theo's face.

"Is there something bothering you?" On the surface, the question was innocent enough, but if Theo was trying to feign ignorance, he wasn't doing a decent job.

"So…you and Lydia?" He hoped that his bluntness would catch Theo off-guard, but it only seemed to make the Chimera's grin grow slightly.

"Yeah. That's not a problem, is it?"

"Not unless you start one."

Theo scoffed, shaking his head before he responded. "What is it going to take for you to trust me? I helped with the Wild Hunt. I'm helping now. Why would I help you if I wanted to hurt you?"

"That's exactly how it started last time before you tried to kill me."

"Yeah, well let's just say that being trapped in that hellhole Kira put me in helped change my perspective." Scott's glare didn't let up at all, bringing another sigh from Theo's lips. "I get it. After everything I did, I wouldn't trust me. But believe me when I say, I'm trying to change. If anything, Lydia has as much reason not to trust me as you do, and she believes me. Just give me a chance."

Scott pondered Theo's words, while still maintaining eye contact. He couldn't deny anything that Theo was saying. He had been helpful during the fight against the Wild Hunt and Lydia admittedly had a reason not to trust him, possibly more than Scott. Though, these thoughts were prevalent, it was the realization that this was what Lydia wanted, and if turning Theo away meant losing her, he'd just have to get used to the Chimera being around.

"Fine," the word came out harsher than he intended, but as quickly as his frustration had reared its ugly head, surprisingly, it was replaced with something more akin to resignation, "just…don't hurt her okay." With a curt nod from Theo, the two stood around in silence until the sound of more vehicles was heard, signaling the arrival of the rest of the pack.

Once everyone had arrived, they divided into their usual groups; Lydia and Theo, Liam and Corey, leaving Scott, Malia and Argent together. Theo and Lydia were conspicuously separate from the rest of the group, while Scott still felt a little awkward around Malia. He knew she could sense his discomfort because she briefly pulled him off and confronted him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." He hoped that he was able to control his heartrate enough that she believed him.

She didn't. "Bullshit."

He couldn't suppress the chuckle that came out at her exclamation. He marveled at how far she'd come since they first met. She went from someone who would abandon most people to save herself, into one of the most caring people he's ever met. Forgetting the potential consequences, he pulled her in for a quick kiss. They stayed like that for several seconds before he pulled back and gave her a small smile.

"Sorry. It's just with everything that's been going on, and then this stuff with Theo-"

"I get it," and it seemed to him that she was aware of something that he wasn't but he wasn't 100% sure he wanted his mind to even go there. "I never expected anything to come of this, so don't worry. I'm not looking for anything serious either, but if you need someone…" She let the statement hang there, but they both knew what she was talking about. Scott was glad that she understood where he was at, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't being 100% honest, which only made him feel bad about what they were doing. As if sensing his thoughts, she dropped a brief kiss onto his cheek before returning to the rest of the group, and Scott could only shake his head and follow.

* * *

 **Liam's POV**

Once everyone had gathered, Scott gave the signal and they began to make their way into the ravine. The place was notorious for 2 reasons; for one thing, being a high place, it known as a place where people would go to commit suicide, but it also served as a natural boundary for where their pack was and where Satomi's pack was. For that reason, they had decided to include both Brett and Lori because they were more familiar with the terrain.

The walk was silent as the group slowly made their way into the ravine, throughout the journey, the werewolves would check for any heartbeats or scents but nothing had come up yet. They had been moving for nearly a half an hour, making Liam worry about how far they would have to venture. The farther in they went, the harder it would be to escape if things went south. Even if the wolves they were looking for could mask their scents, they still should've heard heartbeats by now.

After nearly another 10 minutes, Scott stopped ahead of everyone else, his head turning to the side, having evidently heard something. Liam and Malia naturally moved forward, but he was surprised when Lydia had moved as well. For now, it seemed that everything that was happening between her, Scott, and Malia was forgotten, instilling him with the hope that all this would eventually blow over.

"Do you hear that?"

Liam closed his eyes and focused, after a few seconds, the sound of multiple heartbeats could be heard.

"Yeah. Heartbeats."

"How many?"

"I'm not sure."

Liam made to step forward, Malia following behind him, but both were stopped by Scott and Lydia respectively.

"Hold up. Something doesn't seem right."

"We have them cornered. We've got to be near the end of the ravine. They have nowhere to go." Liam made to move forward again, but Scott's grip on his sleeve wouldn't relent.

"Exactly," Lydia piped in, "but if they somehow get the upper hand, we'll be just as trapped as them."

Liam was starting to get frustrated. How were they supposed to expect him to protect Beacon Hills, when they wouldn't give him a chance? "It doesn't matter. They've killed someone and we need to stop them." He pushed forward once again, this time managing to break Scott's hold, and made his way towards the heartbeats. As he went, he heard the others following behind him. He would've smirked at his victory, but there were more important things to worry about.

Finally, they made it to the end and were met by four werewolves, who had yet to notice their arrival. There were three guys and one girl, each of them sporting slashes and other injuries that looked somewhat recent. At first, Liam assumed that they were from when they attacked him and Malia, but that as a few days ago, their injuries should've healed by then. Without thinking, he took another step forward and accidently toppled over a few rocks, giving away their element of surprise.

The four of them turned towards the sound and tensed at the sight of the pack. Instead of readying for a fight, they started to scatter. As they all attempted to find a way out, Liam dashed forward along with Scott, Malia, and Theo and managed to catch them before they got too far. Captive in hand, Liam slammed the one he caught into the wall.

"Please, you have to let us go."

To say he was startled by the fear that was apparent in his voice, was an understatement. Of all the ways for them to respond to be ambushed, this wasn't one of them.

"Why?" came Malia's voice a few feet behind him, "So you can attack us again?"

"We thought you were coming after us. We wouldn't have done it if we hadn't caught your scent following us?"

"We're after you because you killed someone?"

His eyes widened, "We haven't killed anyone?" The confusion mixed with fear in his voice gave Liam pause, but he wasn't about to let him go.

"Then who did?"

"We don't know," the one Scott was holding stammered. He began hyperventilating as he tried to answer. "It's gotta be the people who are after us. They have guns, and these guys that were covered in bones?"

 _Covered in bones? What could that mean?_ No sooner had the thought entered his mind, he caught the sound of a familiar growling sound, causing him to lose all the color in his face. He hadn't heard that sound for over a year, and still managed to install fear in his mind. As he turned in the direction of it, he heard another sound, this time the sound of an arrow flying. He heard it impact in the center of the group before it exploded in a flash of blinding light.

"Run!"

They attempted to scatter but the sound of gun-fire, stopped them in their tracks. Liam attempted to find another way out, but his progress was stopped by a large body slamming into his. Once his vision began to clear up, his earlier suspicion was confirmed by the sight of a large creature covered in animal bones.

Berserkers, and judging by the sound of two other growls told him there were more. His mind raced for any solution as to why they were there, but he only knew of one person who was able to make Berserkers.

The sound of two more people dropping into the Ravine, accompanied by a pair of roars. He wanted to see who they were but, the Berserker reeled his arm back to stab him with the spike so he had to act fast. He managed to loosen its grip enough to duck out of the way and land a few strikes of his own. Though the creature was stronger than him, he was much faster, dodging multiple strikes while landing a few of his own, but they didn't seem to be doing much damage. He launched himself off the wall to land one more strike but was caught in the air and slammed ack into the wall, sending his mind reeling.

As the cobwebs started to clear in his mind, he noticed that most of the fighting had stopped. Now that he was finally able to get a good look around he saw that Scott was also pinned by one of the other Berserkers, while Brett and Lori were pinned by the third. Argent had his throat constricted by a woman that he recognized as Kate Argent, Malia was pinned face down by a woman he didn't recognize, while Lydia, Theo and the Other werewolves were all held at gunpoint.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist trying to save people Scott." Liam turned towards the direction of the voice, and his blood ran cold at the sight of Gerard standing there, crossbow in hand.

"What do you want Gerard?"

"What any other person in my situation would want. Revenge." He walked passed every member of the pack, menacingly pointing the bow at them as he continued his speech. "All I've ever wanted was to continue my families work, to have my name go down in history as the greatest hunter who ever lived, but that never happened, thanks to you." He stopped at Scott and almost lazily fired a bolt into his bicep, causing Scott to cry out in pain. "I knew that I wouldn't be able to exact my retribution by myself, but it was surprisingly easy to build an army and find others who wanted revenge as much as I did."

Kate gave a low growl from her position, as did the woman pinning Malia down did as well, revealing that she was the Desert Wolf. Gerard directed his attention to the four werewolves, who were all still cowering by the wall.

"Though both my daughter and Corrine cautioned against letting you four go, I knew that it would bring out Scott and his pack," the evil grin on his face grew as he waved his hand, directing the hunters to raise their guns, "Unfortunately, your usefulness has run its course." With a nod of his head, the hunters opened fire on the four, firing until the four of them were just bloody piles on the ground.

Liam watched in horror, realizing that they all would surely share the same fate. He might have resigned to their fate when a flicker of light caught his vision. He would've disregarded it, but when he saw it a second time he realized that it wasn't his mind playing tricks on him. Giving the pack a second look, he realized that someone was missing.

Several things then happened at once. First, one of the hunters began frantically grabbing towards his belt as a grenade on his belt clattered to the ground, exploding into a large cloud of smoke. Seizing the opportunity for a distraction, he swiped the Berserker in the face with his claws, before using the smoke to get some distance. Gun fire started sounding all around him as he used his eyes to see through the smoke. He saw Argent was firing towards some retreating Hunters, while the other pack members were all engaged in fighting the Desert Wolf, Kate and her Berserkers.

His gaze eventually fell on Brett and Lori who were fighting one Berserker, when Lori was slammed into a wall about to be stabbed. Thinking fast, he dropkicked the Berserker away, before he heard a roar come from some ways away, causing the entire battleground to go silent.

Once the smoke had cleared, they were finally able to see the aftermath of the battle. A few hunters lay on the ground either dead or unconscious, Gerard and his co-conspirators were all gone, and for the most part, the pack seemed to make it out with only a few scrapes. A pained gasp came from behind him caught his attention, and he saw Theo crouched over a prone Lydia, he back littered with dozens of bullet holes. Unsurprisingly, Malia was the one to break the silence.

"Well…that could've gone better."

 _ **AN:**_

 _ **So, we're getting into the thick of things now. I had the plans for Kate and Gerard to team up before 6B began but at least including the Desert Wolf, so at least I have that. I know I promised to get back to a regular update schedule, but I hope to actually accomplish that next chapter.**_

 _ **Since Game of Thrones is done for the season, it really makes me want to start a GOT story. This story will still be my primary focus, but I can't quite get rid of the itch to start that one.**_

 _ **Originally, I had planned to have one of the pairings for this story be Liam/ Malia, but after seeing 613, I may change the pairing to be Liam/Lori. I'm still up in the air, but since I already started teasing L/M, I figured I should do the same for L/L in case I go that route. If you have a preference, let me know in the comments.**_

 _ **If you see any grammar or spelling mistakes, feel free to let me know so I can fix them. As always, thanks for reading!**_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 **Lydia POV –**

She tried in vain to regain her breath as Theo repeatedly thrust in her. The events of the ambush from days earlier had terrified Lydia; the fact that so many of their enemies had banded together to eliminate them, compounded with the fact that she would've most likely been shot to death if Theo hadn't pushed her out of the way, to say she was still shaken from the experience was an understatement. She had invited Theo over both to show her gratitude for him literally taking a bullet (technically a dozen of them) for her but also so that she could feel something that could keep her grounded. She was still aware that deflecting her problems through sex, admittedly _very_ good sex, wasn't the best way to deal with her problems. Add that to the fact that she wanted this to stay a purely physical relationship, and it made the whole mess even more complicated.

Still, she figured that her current position was a perfect indicator for the current position of their relationship. She was laid prone on her bed with pillows only underneath her head and her hips, as Theo had one hand on her hips and the other next to her head, his hips moving like a piston, snapping to hers hard enough to leave her thighs red. She had no idea what to do with her hands, going back and forth between reaching back to touch him and holding her sheets in a death grip.

She moaned at a particularly hard thrust, bringing a small chuckle that turned into a groan from the man behind her. She felt his lips land on her neck before it traveled up to her earlobe, where he suckled on it, causing her to inhale sharply and tighten up around him.

Suddenly, she was being pulled back until her back was flush with his chest. His movements were more like rutting than thrusting as he turned her head to the side and sought her lips, which she happily obliged. The kiss was sloppy, their lips only glancing occasionally, forcing their tongues to do most of the work. She felt more than heard a deep moan come from his chest, which only served to increase the heat she felt in her core, before she was forced back on her hands and knees as Theo propped a leg up and his hips kicked into high gear. She felt the end growing nearer, but at least Theo was close as well, his breathing coming in short gasps as his movements grew jerkier. With a strangled gasp, he thrust into her one last time as he found his release, the action triggering her's as well.

Theo managed to keep from crushing Lydia under his weight, managing to sluggishly roll over beside her, their breathing near in sync as they tried to compose themselves. Lydia rolled over and curled up next to him, a movement that was more habitual than sincere, and finally tried to get some rest after an exhausting last few days.

Mere minutes after they got settled, Theo's breathing slowed, having found sleep much easier than Lydia had herself. Normally, this kind of physical contact, such an act of compassion, would help ease her into unconsciousness, but lately she was finding that it wasn't working anymore. She spent much of her time trying to fall asleep, attempting to decipher why this was the case, eventually deciding that it had to be Theo.

Though their arrangement had proven effective and helpful during its initial stages, that was not the case anymore. The relief she felt from their couplings would only last minutes after they were done, and even though she found physical satisfaction, she yearned for a more emotional connection.

She briefly debated broaching the idea of taking this thing between them seriously, but it was apparent that Theo wasn't feeling the same way. Not only did he give off the vibe that he didn't want anything serious as they both had when they started, but whereas when they had started, he would pull her in close and hold her after their trysts, now unless she initiated the contact, then it never happened. Even now, as she laid her head on his chest, not once did his arm move to wrap itself around her.

Feeling frustrated, she turned away from Theo and curled herself up in the blankets, where she finally could find the sleep that alluded her. As she slowly lost consciousness, she never noticed Theo's eyes on her as her mind finally went blank.

* * *

 **Scott's POV –**

Scott stood in the animal clinic, along with Malia, Liam, Deaton, and Lydia as they attempted to hash out some sort of plan going forward. They were all still smarting from the trap that they had all fallen into, of all the outcomes of that night, running into Gerard, K ate, and the Desert Wolf caught them off-guard and they nearly paid the price for it.

While Scott and Deaton wanted to take their time planning so they could avoid any other traps, Malia and Liam were both anxious to return fire against the group of hunters. He could understand where they were coming from, Liam blamed himself for the deaths of those four werewolves, whereas Malia still wanted revenge on her mother. Though she would vehemently deny such a thing, the chemo signals she gave off were enough of a red flag for all to see. Surprisingly, Lydia had yet to chime in herself, seemingly off in her own little world, as she dealt with whatever issues she was currently having.

"We can't just wait around for them to try and get the upper hand on us again. We need to find out where their hiding and stop them."

Scott let out an exasperated sigh. He understood where Liam was coming from, he too felt the strong pull to charge forward looking for revenge, but he could reign those instincts in. The way Liam was acting lately made Scott wonder if he should've left Malia in charge of Beacon Hills, but she earned the right to leave as much as the rest of them had.

"We need to slow down Liam. Last time we rushed in, they ambushed us and four people died. We almost died, Lydia almost died." His voice came out as a shout towards the end, startling all the occupants of the room. Liam's eyes were wide as they glanced once at Lydia and then quickly moved back to Scott before he finally nodded. "What we need to do is find their hide out and then come up with a plan to catch them off-guard."

He then looked to Malia, who when she noticed his pointed stare, she sighed in resignation, having figured out what he was going to ask of her. "You want me to track my mother's scent, so we can find out where they are." He tried to give her an apologetic look, but only got an aggravated eye roll for his efforts.

"Once we find where they are, we'll figure out the best way to get in there and force them to surrender."

"And what if they don't?" It was the first time during this whole meeting that Lydia spoke up, and the dread that filled her voice was enough to make everyone else worried.

"Do you feel something?" She shook her head, the fear that she felt clear on her face. "We'll find a way to stop them, we always find a way."

"But not with them Scott," her eyes beginning to water, "Look at who we're up against. Gerard, Kate, and the Desert Wolf. All three of them, homicidal maniacs who can't be trusted. There's no way they'll go quietly and even if we somehow managed to catch them, they'll have a trap set up and they'll kill us." She was near hysterics by this point, causing Scott to instinctively close the distance between them and wrap her up in his arms. With a nod to everyone else, they quietly left the room, leaving the Alpha and the Banshee there alone.

Lydia tried to keep herself composed but the stress finally got to her and she broke down in Scott's arms, clutching him tightly as sobs escaped her lips. Scott was content to just stand there and stroke her back until her sobs had reduced to mere whimpers and a few hiccups here and there. After what seemed like hours, she finally leaned back to look at him, but instead of a sorrowful look, he was met by an accusatory one.

"I nearly died Scott. I was nearly shot to death and I haven't seen you since then. I know you don't approve of what I'm doing with Theo, but I was scared and al you did was avoid me. Why Scott?"

His heart broke for her then and there. She needed him and he didn't go see her over a petty disagreement, over his stupid feelings of jealousy. He hurt her and it made him feel lower than dirt. He wanted to pull away and sink into the floor, but Lydia's hold on him didn't relent. He could've easily pulled away, but it felt like all his strength had melted away.

"I'm so sorry Lydia." He crumbled in on himself, seemingly the only thing still holding him upright.

"Why?"

"I guess…I was jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Ever since Kira left…you, Stiles, and Malia…," he struggled to find the words to explain himself, "We've all been through so much, and with all of us going our separate ways, I wanted to enjoy the rest of our time together." He paused as he tried to compose himself. He wasn't one to put his problems onto other people, he was the one who usually tried to take on others' problems. "Then Stiles left early for D.C., and you start this thing with Theo and…I can't help but feel that you guys don't need me anymore, that we're already starting to drift apart."

When he looked up and met her gaze, he was surprised to see that she looked sympathetic.

"We're not going to drift apart Scott. It's like Stiles said, we'll all find our way back to each other. I'm not sorry for being with Theo but I'm sorry that I gave you the impression that I didn't need you anymore. I'll always need you Scott."

His chest began to feel warm and light at her words. She would always need him. He might've realized that what he was feeling was something more than that, but he was overwhelmed with relief. Almost unconsciously, he pulled her into another hug, which she happily reciprocated, and the two of them were content to just be there, both unaware of how big of an impact this moment would have on their relationship.

Unbeknownst to the two of them, they were not alone. Outside the animal clinic, hidden partially in the shadows against the wall, stood Theo, listening in on their conversation. As he listened to the words the two of them exchanged, his expression was mostly unreadable. At first, he had a smirk on his face when Lydia accosted Scott on his avoidance, but it slowly fell away as the conversation went on. Once it was apparent that he wasn't going to learn anything else, he quietly slinked away, he had a person he had to meet.

 _ **AN –**_

 _ **Here's a shorter chapter for you guys. Any guesses to what Theo's up to. Is he up to no good, or not? You'll have to see. I also wanted to start repairing Scott and Lydia's relationship here, but it's still going to be a while before they get anywhere near romantic.**_

 _ **I originally planned for this chapter to be a bit longer but after deciding that I will probably go forward with Liam/Malia, I decided to end it here and have the next chapter further their relationship. I'm back on a regular update schedule so that chapter shouldn't be too far off.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading!**_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 –

 **Malia POV –**

She couldn't help but wonder how she ended up here. It was moments like these that she wished that her travel plans weren't interrupted and that she was a beach somewhere on the coast of France. She understood that because they had the power to stop whatever was happening, then it was their responsibility to stop it, but that did little to ease her frustration. She had managed to find where Gerard and his allies were hiding out but instead of attacking immediately like she thought Scott was going to do, he wanted to get some help.

So that's how she found herself here outside Peter's house, so she could try and convince him to fight with them. She knew that she would probably have the best chance at convincing him but it didn't mean that she had to like the idea anymore. Despite how he talked, she knew Peter had somewhat of a soft spot for Scott, for the Beta that he made that had went on to become a true Alpha, but at the same time, he had shown no hesitation to try and take that power from Scott once the opportunity arose, so she could see his hesitation to meet with the former Alpha.

She wasn't sure how long she sat out in her car, going back and forth between walking up to the house and getting this conversation over with and leaving and telling Scott that he wasn't home. Knowing how much danger they were all in, she decided the second option wasn't really an option so she finally got out of her car and walked purposefully towards Peter's front door. She saw the door open as she approached and prepared herself for the frustration that normally came with talking with her father.

What she didn't expect was to meet Theo leaving the house instead of her father, her senses immediately going on high alert. Theo noticing her rapid approach and her change in demeanor, out his hands up defensively to try and calm her down.

"Whoa Malia. There's no need for that." This did little to stop her as she grabbed him the lapel of his jacket.

"What are you doing here Theo?"

"Asking Peter for help."

"Help with what?" She knew he was deflecting, but she wouldn't let him go until he answered all her questions.

"Fighting Gerard."

"You're going to fight Gerard?"

"Hey in case you forgot, he attacked me too. Had to try and pull a dozen Wolfsbane bullets out of my back. I want to get back at them."

"And you thought you could reach Peter? You know, the guy who'll only help if it benefits him?"

"I never said I was successful, but somehow I get the feeling that you'll have more luck than I did." The damn annoying grin was back on his face and before she could react, he leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, startling her enough for her grip on her to loosen her grip on him, but once her brain started up again, she made a swipe at him as her claws elongated but he was already out of reach and heading to his truck, She briefly entertained running after him to teach him a lesson, but she didn't feel it was worth her time. Still, her brain couldn't stop itself from momentarily entertaining other sordid fantasies about the Chimera, but she shook those thoughts away. She knew that her attraction to him was strictly physical and because of what he was, but she couldn't ignore the fact that as time went on, her resistance to that attraction was slowly weakening.

She continued her walk to the door, which opened once again, this time revealing Peter, but something seemed off about him. His chemo signals were different somehow, he was distressed about something. Had Theo done or said something to cause this?

"Hello Malia. I suppose you're here to-"

"What the hell is wrong with you? You smell terrible."

He stiffened slightly as if surprised that she figured it out, causing her to shake her head. Why was it that everyone forgot that they could do this kind of thing? Maybe it was because she was a coyote for 8 years?

"Why would you think that?"

"I saw Theo leaving, and since you don't have much experience with him, but he's a lot like you. He knows how to get under people's skin." She paused a directed a stern stare at her father. "What did he say to you?"

He hesitated for a moment before he looked her in the eyes, allowing her to see what she thought was regret in them. "You almost died. Why didn't you come to me for help then?"

She was surprised by his words and though she was touched slightly by them, she didn't let that change her mind right now.

"You've made it abundantly clear that you didn't want to help us unless it had some benefit to you. What about going to stop some murderous werewolves sounds like it was in your interest?"

He directed one of his patented sneers at her before controlling himself once again. "Okay, I have to admit that you have a point," he said as he opened his arms in a sign of defeat, "But why do you want my help this time?"

"Because if we're going to defeat Gerard, we're going to need all the help we can get."

Peter turned away from her, attempting to let off an air of indifference, but Malia knew better. "And how exactly is helping you stop him, as you say, in my best interest?" He wasn't fooling her. She could tell that behind his indifferent front, he did care, more than he would ever admit. He was just trying to save face.

"Remember who it was that slashed Kate's throat, killing her and then causing her to turn and become a pain in the ass for all of us," she paused, somehow knowing that her next words would be the final nail in the coffin. "Also, my mother is with them."

"I'm aware of that," he replied a little stiffly, "I'm also aware that she tried to kill you, thanks for keeping that from me by the way." His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Malia could tell that it hurt him. She didn't mean to keep it from him, especially since they were trying to repair their relationship, it just never came up.

"Alright…I'm sorry for not telling you, but in my defense, it never seemed that important with the Wild Hunt going on." She could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he nodded nonetheless. "So, are you helping us or not?"

 **Liam POV –**

Finally, after an eternity of planning and scheming, the plan to get payback against the hunters was in motion. Malia tracked them to a warehouse in the middle of the woods, which Argent identified as one that his family used to use to store weapons years ago. He was even able to find old blueprints for the building, allowing them to learn the layout of the building and prepare themselves.

Since whatever resistance they met would probably be heavily armed, they decided that only the werewolves would go, leaving Lydia and Mason at the Sheriff's Station with Parrish, Stilinski, and Lori to look after them. Meanwhile, Argent had caught word that Gerard was arranging an arms deal somewhere in town, so he decided to try and intercept him instead of going along with them, meaning that the only back up that he, Scott, and Malia would have were Theo, Bret, Peter, and Corey. Scott had also made calls to several other people, but it seemed like none of them would arrive in time.

They all parked their cars about a half a mile from where the compound was, and walked the rest of the way there, under the light of the full moon. They walked in relative silence, trying as best they could to catch the hunters off-guard and end the fighting before they got a chance to start. Scott lead the way, with Malia following slightly behind him, but not as close as she stuck with him usually. Liam walked beside Bret, while it seemed that Peter and Theo were intent on standing as far away from each other as they could. He tried to keep his eyes forward, but he every minute or so, he would glance at Malia, eventually realizing that something was bothering her.

"Hey," he began as he jogged up next to her to talk. The look she gave him at interrupting her silent brooding would've normally been enough to send him away, but he could tell that whatever was on her mind was getting to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," was all the response she deemed necessary. She seemed intent on with it herself.

"Malia, even if I couldn't smell your distress, just watching you is enough to convince me that something is bothering you." She gave him a scowl and continued as if he didn't say anything, hoping that he would give up. Unfortunately, he kept pace with her long enough for her to grow tired of it.

"Alright fine' she bit out, glaring at him as her eyes glowed blue. "Something doesn't feel right." She returned her gaze in front of her, her gaze shifting to ever shadow despite the oath being clear. "We're walking to a warehouse filled with some of the most cunning and most dangerous threats we've ever faced, yet there's no one patrolling this road. It doesn't even look like it's been used much." She paused again, glancing back in the direction of Peter. "But it's him that's got me worried the most. Something is bothering him, and it's big enough that he was willing to help us without putting up a fight."

Though, on the outside, it appeared like she wasn't bothered by all this, but he could tell that it really had her freaked out. Reacting instinctively, he reached a hand onto her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. Her head herked back at him in surprise, brows knitted together in brief confusion, before a small smile graced her face. His face flushed slightly at her expression, confused by his own bodies reaction.

Soon enough, they arrived at the compound and tried to listen and smell for any threats. They heard dozens of heartbeats and heard the telltale growl of a Berserker, but their sense of smell was hindered by the overbearing stench of Wolfsbane.

It was time to put their plan into action. Scott and Malia were going to enter from the front and draw most of the attention, Peter and Theo were each going to climb onto the roof and come in that way, while Liam and Brett were going to enter from the rear, with Corey keeping them invisible until they all could attack.

As everyone moved into position, Liam chanced a glance back towards Scott and Malia and was surprised that the were-coyote was already looking in his direction. As soon as the two of them locked eyes, they quickly broke the connection and continued to get ready.

Liam and his group waited for the signal to break in, the air around them tense as they prepared for what was potentially the fight of their lives. A roar pierced through the night, followed by the sounds of a metal door being broken down, signaled the attack to begin. Liam looked behind him to nod at Corey, who grasped him and Brett on the shoulder and opened the door in front of them.

The fighting had already begun, Scott and Malia were fighting a Berserker near where they had broken in, While Peter and Theo were still waiting for their opportunity to start taking out hunters.

The invisible trio entered further into the compound, spotting three hunters to the right of where they entered. Whilst unseen, they managed to take all three of them out, attracting the attention of many of the other hunters, before becoming invisible again. Seeing their cue, Peter and Theo leapt from above and also began dispatching any hunters they ran into.

The raid continued as such for several more minutes, Peter and Theo attracting most of the attention, allowing Liam, Corey, and Brett to stealthily knock out hunters, while Malia and Scott continued to battle the Berserker without having to worry about being shot at.

Soon enough, all the hunters had been dealt with, but the Berserker was still running rampant. Using one of its clawed arms, it managed to pierce Malia in the shoulder, angering Liam greatly. He leapt forward and knocked the creature off balance, allowing Malia to crawl to safety as the rest of the group swarmed around the Berserker. First Brett charged, followed by Peter, but the creature was able to bat the two of them away with ease.

Scott looked to Liam, immediately understanding Scott's urging, nodding to Theo and Malia, while Scott directed the others, so they could pounce the Berserker together. First Scott swiped at it, stumbling it back, while Liam charged forward and tackle it into a nearby pillar. Both Peter and Theo came up quickly and grabbed ahold of its arms pinning it there with assistance from Brett and Corey. Remembering how Derek stopped one of these things in Mexico, Scott grabbed both hands on the skull adorning its head, pulling with all his might. With surprising ease, the skull snapped in half, causing the Berserker to explode into a cloud of dust and bone.

The first thing that struck them after the fighting had finished was how eerily quiet the warehouse is. It was natural that once most of the guards were taken care of that there wouldn't be as much noise but not like this.

There was nothing. No scents. No heartbeats. Nothing

"Spread out," Scott ordered as he cautiously moved further into the compound, "We don't know what Gerard might've left behind for us."

They all fanned out searching every corner of the warehouse, but their search proved fruitless. Not only was there no sign of Gerard, Kate, or the Desert Wolf, but it didn't look like this place had barely been occupied. One of the storage rooms where Argent had told them that they stored firearms, was stripped bare. The more time they spent in there, the more it appeared to Liam that this place wasn't their base of operations. It was a decoy.

"There's nothing here!"

"This doesn't make any sense," said Malia, shaking her head in frustration, "Their scent lead here. I can still smell it."

"Something doesn't seem right. We need to-" Scott was cut off by his phone ringing. "It's Argent." He tapped the screen and pulled it up to his ear. "Hey, there's nothing here. It's almost like-"

"Like you've been set up," came the voice of Gerard. Scott visibly tensed, nearly crushing his phone. He pulled the phone from his ear and put it on speaker. "Did you really think that I would be that easy to find Scott?"

"Where's Chris?"

"He's somewhere safe, but shouldn't you be a little more worried about your friends at the Sheriff's Station? About your mother?"

Scott began visibly shaking, his eyes glowing bright red as his anger threatened to take control of him. "If you hurt her-"

"That's entirely up to you Scott, but if you want to save them, then you'll have to come to me, alone." With a chuckle that sounded more like someone laughing at his own joke than someone who was threatening the lives of dozens of people, he hung up, leaving Scott and the pack to contemplate how they were going to get out of this.

 **AN –**

 **Alright so now things are going to pick up. In a lot of ways, the chapters prior to this were all set-up. From here on out, the relationships are going to progress more and the story is going to progress more. Also, if you're getting "** _ **The Dark Knight**_ **" vibes from the ending of this chapter, that's exactly what I intended. You'll just have to wait and see if everyone makes it out alive.**

 **As of writing this, the series finale has aired and it's starting to hit me that Teen Wolf is over. I originally didn't want 6B to influence my story at all, but after watching it, there are some ideas that I can't get out of my head, so I feel as though I should include some of them. The others will probably be used in other stories/ one-shots.**

 **Lastly, since 6B is over, I am planning on writing the last chapter for "** _ **Moments of Comfort**_ **". I'm not sure yet if it will disrupt the update schedule for this story at all, so we'll have to wait and see. The next chapter going to be a difficult one anyway so I might take more time to write it anyway.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 **Malia POV**

She watched helplessly, as Scott began working himself into a frenzy. She saw him try to call Lydia, but quickly found that the signal wouldn't go through. He then tried Argent, before trying his mom, but to no avail. If the knowledge that Gerard had his mother wasn't a clear enough signal, his grip on his phone threatened to destroy the thing as he began pacing.

"We'll get her Scott. We'll save her and Argent. You just need to follow her scent-"

"I can't go with you. Gerard wants me to meet him and if I don't show up, he'll kill them. You'll have to go without me."

Theo stepped forward, looking Scott directly in the eye.  
"I'll go rescue your mom while the others head to the station and help Argent."

"Not without me," Malia exclaimed stepping right up to Theo in challenge. "There's no way I'm letting you off on your own."

"Malia, it's fine," Scott tried to placate but she could tell that he was hesitant to accept the idea.

"I'll take him with me to get Argent. That way Malia can go rescue your mom," Liam offered.

"It's not safe for anyone to go alone."

"Then I'll go with her." Malia was shocked that Peter was so quick to offer his aid and though she felt the urge to berate him for thinking that she couldn't do it herself, she noticed that he was only just looking back their direction with an expression that was a mix of worry and distrust. It only took another moment for her to realize that he was originally looking in Theo's direction.

"Okay," said Scott, trying to give off an air of confidence but it was clear that he was shaken by his mother's kidnapping. "You guys do that, while Corey and Brett go help the others."

Everyone nodded and began to disperse, but Malia hung back and grabbed ahold of Scott's hand.

"You sure you want to take on Gerard by yourself."

"I'll be fine. Just save them." Malia nodded before running back to her car where Peter was waiting for her. She chanced a look back and saw Scott pull out his phone to scroll through his contacts, obviously looking for any other help they could get. Hopefully, help would come.

She paused briefly, her mind drifted to how terrible things had gotten so quickly. She hoped that things improved soon, before Scott had another started to doubt himself again. She remembered how he had fallen and kept to himself during the Dread Doctors actions, and she hoped that things never got that bad again.

She got startled when she felt a hand on her elbow, expecting Peter to have approached her, but was surprised when she saw Liam standing next to her.

"Don't worry. We're not going to let Scott down."

She smiled at the sincerity in his voice, his earnestness making her believe it too. They always overcome every challenge that they came across, and she wasn't about to let this be the first time they failed.

 **Scott POV**

Of course, this would be the spot that Gerard would arrange to meet. Though the house had long been torn down, the choice to meet where the Hale House once stood, the sight of Gerard and Kate's single greatest victory, was one that Scott understood was an attempt to get under his skin. He didn't need to go through all the trouble, kidnapping his mom, Argent, and threatening Stiles' dad and Lydia was enough to piss him off.

"Ah Scott, so nice of you to join us."

"Like you gave me much of a choice."

"I'm surprised that you aren't off to try and save your mother Scott. Do you really trust your pack that much, that you would leave her life in their hands?"

"I trust Liam."

"I noticed that you failed to mention the other thing that's been running around with you for a while now." Scott briefly wondered if Gerard knew something about Theo that he didn't, but in his rattled state, he brushed it off as Gerard try to mess with him. "I can't say I'm surprised you came alone though, you always had this annoying desire to try and keep all the people you love safe. I wonder how well that's working out for you now."

At this, Scott finally took his singular focus from Gerard and glanced around, noticing that outside of a few hunters who all had their guns trained on him, he couldn't find any signs of either Kate or the Desert Wolf.

"As you've probably already realized, the others are off with other pursuits. That means its just you and me."

Scott could only hope that his friends would able to save everyone. Right now, he just had focus on keeping Gerard's attention away from everything else.

"What do you want Gerard?"

"I'm surprised that you haven't figured it out." The grin on Gerard's face turned feral. "I want your power."

 **Lydia POV**

Something was wrong.

The others should've contacted them a half an hour ago to tell them if the attack against Gerard had been successful. Instead, the pack members at the Sheriff's station got radio silence from the others, which only put them on edge. Even more suspicious was the fact that they couldn't call the others themselves, due to poor signal. All in all, Lydia had a bad feeling about what was going on.

Glancing around the room, she saw that Mason was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself, while Lori watched on, visibly debating whether she should intervene and calm him down or join him. Meanwhile, the only law enforcement in the building were Noah and Parrish, everyone else having been called out on assignment. The fact that 90% of the police force were coincidentally absent while they were planning an attack against the hunters was a little unnerving, and no matter how hard she tried to convince herself it was nothing, the doubt persisted.

The sound of the front door opening caught the attention of everyone in the room, Noah and Parrish pulling their guns, only for there to be no one at the door. Their surprise and confusion were soon abated when they heard a voice come seemingly from nowhere.

"Hey! It's just us!"

Corey and Brett appeared out of thin air, Lori immediately hugging her brother, while Core and Mason share a brief kiss.

"What's going on?" said Mason pulling back from his boyfriend.

"We have to get out of here. They're coming"

"Who's coming?"

Suddenly, Lydia saw dozens of pairs of headlights pull up outside the station, her brain quickly coming to the right conclusion.

Hunters.

Everyone took up defensive positions along the wall and waited until they could come up with a plan to fight back.

"What do we do?" came Lori's frightened voice from next to her brother.

"There's only a dozen or so of them, so I say we fight back," said Lydia, as she readied herself to scream her way through the front door and take the hunters on.

The sound of glass shattering startled them, Lydia turned, and her heart stopped at the sight in front of her. Four Berserkers had leapt through the windows of the wall next to them, already ready for a fight.

 **Liam POV**

It seemed way too quiet. The eerie silence that covered the warehouse district of Beacon Hills was never this quiet. Liam wanted to believe that maybe the hunters had left and that they would be able to escape unscathed, though it was more likely the case that either Argent and his captors weren't here, or they were walking into a trap.

Both and him and Theo moved closer to the warehouse closest to the waterfront, having already checked all the other ones. If they were here, that's where they'd be.

Once they were 100 yards away, that was when they heard it. 3 separate growls and what sounds like a dozen other heartbeats. Figuring stealth was their best option, he nodded to Theo, who returned it, and the pair began to creep closer to the warehouse until they were hugging the closest wall. He was able to take one step towards a nearby window when he heard a whisper break through the silence.

"My, my, my… look what we have here. A Beta and an abomination. I figured Scott would send someone like either Malia…or Peter. We all know it wouldn't take much for him to want a piece of me." Her voice had a suggestiveness to it, even as she laughed at her own joke. "Still, did you two really think that you could get the drop on me." She clicked her tongue and let out another chuckle, as Liam realized that two of the growls weren't coming from inside the building, but from above them. Before he had the chance to react, two Berserkers landed right behind him and Theo and tackled them both with enough force to send them through the thin metal wall.

"So much for stealth," came Theo's exasperated voice from a few feet away, but Liam was unable to tell where he was exactly.

Rolling onto his front, he gazed further into the compound searching for a way out, other threats, anything that would help them survive this fight. What he was met by, was Chris being held about 50 yards away by a transformed Kate, her claws positioned at his throat. On either side of them were 6 hunters, all with their guns at the ready. A quick glance behind him saw that the Berserkers were still in play as well.

 **Malia POV**

Another bullet whizzed past Malia's head, keeping her pinned behind the tree that she was currently using for her own protection. A few feet away, Peter wasn't having any better luck as he was kept at bay by another barrage of bullets.

They had managed to track Melissa's scent into the preserve, tracking it near the school, coincidentally not far from where just a few months ago, they had their final battle against the Wild Hunt. They were met by a group of hunters, led by her mother, who wasted no time in beginning to unload on them.

"Come out, come out Malia. It's been too long since we had our last mother-daughter bonding time."

"Good luck with that bitch!" Malia yelled poking her head out momentarily, only to retreat as a bullet shot past where her head just was.

"You got spunk kid, I'll give you that. Reminds me a little of myself, but if you don't come out of here soon, I'll make sure the rest of your pack, starting with your two boyfriends, the Alpha and the Beta."

Malia let out a low growl and was turning to burst out from behind the tree, when Peter had managed to make it to her and pin her to the tree.

"Don't Malia. She wants you to get riled up, so she can kill you."

Malia initially tried to fight him off, but soon she realized that he was right.

"Oh," came her mothers voice from somewhere in the woods. She sounded as though she were moving, but Malia was having a tough time pinpointing exactly where she was because of all the fire power. "I forgot you were there Peter." She let out a cackle as she continued to move around in the darkness. "Our little family has been reunited. All these sentimental feelings are killing me, but it'll have to wait until after I kill the two of you."

"You don't have to do this Corinne."

"No, I think I do. You two are the reason that my life got ruined, and it's time you pay for what you took from me."

Without warning, she spun from around the other side of the tree, striking Peter with the butt of her shotgun, sending him into the gunfire and towards the advancing Berserker. Malia had little time to worry about him, as she too was struck and fell to the ground.

She felt a hand grab her hair and force her head up, meeting the glowing blue eyes of her mother, claws extended. She looked briefly up at the sky and smiled at the full moon shining above.

"You know, last time I tried this, I wasn't patient enough, but not this time." Her cold blue eyes drifted back to Malia's. "Now, you get to experience what I've had to live through for the last 8 years."

She raised her claws, preparing to strike, when she was suddenly knocked a few yards away. Surprised, Malia looked up at her savior, expecting her father, but was met by someone else. The knock to her head made her brain a little slow, but when she eventually realized who it was, despite the pain and how dire the situation was, she let out a smile.

 **Scott POV**

"How does it feel Scott. To have all that power, and still be powerless to stop me."

Scott didn't react beyond the tightening of his eyes and fists. He wasn't going to fall for Gerard's goading, he just needed to try and by everyone a little more time.

"I've thought about this day for a long time Scott. I realize now that I made a mistake trying to take the power from Derek, I underestimated your desire to try and save everyone, and I filed because of it." He took a few steps forward, the Berserker following him. "Not this time though. Now I'm going to use your hero complex against you, because if you don't give me what I want, then I will kill everyone you love."

"You won't win."

Gerard huffed out a small laugh, an evil smile on his face once again. With a nod of his head, the Berserker stepped forward again, this time poised to attack.

"Look around you Scott. There's no one around to save you, no pack to help you, all because of your foolish desire to save everyone."

Scott closed his eyes and shifted, realizing that there wasn't anymore time that he could stall.

"Still as defiant as ever, even as you stand here alone. I always said the lone wolf as the most pathetic type."

"He's not alone," came a voice from the darkness. Both Scott and Gerard turned quickly to see who it was. From the shadows to their left stepped out Derek Hale, bringing an angry scowl to Gerard's face and a relieved smile to Scott's.

 _ **AN –**_

 _ **Merry Christmas everyone. I know it's been a while, but now that I've finished school for the semester, I'll be able to update my stories more. Because of my absence, I've giving everyone a new chapter to all three of my active stories.**_

 _ **This chapter was difficult to write because I had to do multiple rewrites of this chapter and the last one as the plot of this chapter got fleshed out. Figuring out who was going to go where, and the dynamics of each encounter was a challenge. Next Chapter will wrap up these events, along with a few surprises.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!**_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 **Scott POV –**

Using the confusion of Derek's appearance to his advantage, Scott leapt forward towards the nearest hunter and shoved his head into a nearby column. The move broke the hunters from their stupor and they began firing at the two werewolves, forcing him to vault over some nearby crates to avoid the gunfire. The sound of a scuffle next to him caught his attention, as a hunter was thrown overhead, before he was joined by the older Beta.

"You decided to show up," said Scott in a half-baked attempt to add some levity to the situation.

"What, and miss the opportunity to beat a couple of hunters? Wouldn't miss it."

The pair briefly put a hand on each other's shoulders, but the overhead gunfire kept the from enjoying the reunion any further.

"Where are the others? Why aren't you with them?"

"They're helping the rest of the pack, and there was no way that I was going to let you face Gerard on your own."

Scott wanted to argue the point but before he could, the clawed arm of a Berserker burst through the box to his immediate right. With part of their cover destroyed, the pair of them started to move, Scott moving towards the hunters, while Derek took on the Berserker.

He was able to move at a speed that made it hard for the hunters get a good shot on him, making taking them all out easy. The first one, he leapt towards and brought his first down on his head, knocking him out. He heard another try to come up behind him, but easily dodged it and threw him into a wall. The rest of the hunters fell shortly after that, leaving just Gerard and the Berserker.

Glancing around the building, he saw Gerard trying to make a run for it. Using his increased speed, he managed to cut the old hunter off and attempted to knock him out as well. He should've realized that Gerard wouldn't fight empty handed, because by the time Scott saw the flash arrow in his hands, it was too late, and he was blinded momentarily. Before his senses could come back, he heard the shtick of a blade being pulled out but was unable to dodge the slice in time, sending him to one knee.

He heard a heavy metal door shutting and locking, along with the continued sounds of Derek's fight with the Berserker. As soon as he had his senses back, he ran towards the door and tried to force it open, When Derek was suddenly thrown into the wall next to him, breaking his concentration. Realizing that they needed to take down the Berserker before they could go after Gerard, he turned around and dropped into a stance as Derek righted himself, standing ready as the creature charged towards them.

 **Liam POV –**

Liam stood poised, ready for the moment that either the Berserkers charged or when the hunters opened fire, letting his anger out a little bit, in hopes that the extra power would be enough to make sure he survived. While he remained focused on Kate and the hunters to the front, Theo kept his eyes on the Berserkers, he too having shifted, ready for combat.

"Looks like you two are all alone and outmatched. Maybe Scott should've sent someone else."

"Don't worry, he did," came a voice from up in the rafters. All the hunters immediately trained their guns up to the ceiling, seemingly forgetting about Theo and Liam. A figure dropped down from the ceiling, knocking over the two Berserkers, before charging the hunters. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Liam sprung forward and began attacking the hunters as well, Theo right behind him.

Filtering out the other two combatants, Liam focused on taking on as many of the hunters in front of him as possible, the trio quickly dispatching most of them in seconds. He ducked as one tried to bash him with the butt of their gun, upper-cutting them and sending them flying.

Now all that was left was Kate, her clawed hand still at Chris' throat, a threat if they decided to make any sudden moves.

"It's over Kate," said the new werewolf, "let Argent go, before we make you."

Kate looked at him curiously for a moment, before a small smile of recognition grew on her face.

"Jackson Whittemore? I never thought I'd see you again handsome."

"Well, I can't say I'm as excited to see your crazy ass again," came Jackson's sarcastic reply. Liam had heard about Jackson from Scott, but had yet to meet him. A battle seemed as good a place as any for introductions.

A roar from behind them meant that the Berserkers were back in play, the pair of them appearing next to Kate. The trio charged forward, Liam going for Kate while the other two went after the other two creatures. One of the Berserkers noticed Liam approaching Kate and attempted to head him off, but was intercepted by Theo as Liam ducked around it, and managed to tackle Kate to the ground.

He quickly climbed on top of her and began raining blows down on her, as Chris managed to right himself and get to his feet.

"Go get out of here!"

The hunter watched, debating whether to help or not, before ultimately deciding that without his weapons he was of no help. As he started to run away, Liam was knocked into a wall by a Berserker, freeing Kate up to run after her brother, leaving Liam to fight the monster, unable to follow.

"She's getting away!" The other two looked over from their battle with the other Berserker.

"I go it," yelled Theo as he kicked away his opponent and took off after the were-jaguar, leaving Liam and Jackson to fight the Berserkers.

"We need to stop these things and help Theo."

Jackson appeared contemplative, for a moment, before letting out a great sigh.

"Alright, I really didn't want to do this but…"

He closed his eyes briefly, his features returning relatively normal, before he opened them again, to reveal his reptilian eyes. Liam recoiled slightly when Jackson also sprouted a tail, but he quickly collected himself, remembering what Scott had told him once about Jackson being the Kanima.

Sprinting forward, Liam ducked under a swing by one of the Berserkers, and immediately began clawing away at the armored side of the monster, hitting every piece of unprotected flesh he could find. Somehow, he managed to stay one step ahead of it, bobbing and weaving away from all its strikes while dealing his own. He wasn't sure if he could beat it this way, but he could at least slow it down.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jackson battling his own opponent, though he appeared to be having a much easier time than Liam was, despite his being slower. The added weapon that was his tail, was enough to keep the Berserker off balance, until he finally managed to imbed his claws into the Berserker's abdomen. It knocked Jackson away, but the damage had been done. Just as it attempted to step towards him, it lost control of its limbs, falling to the ground because of Jackson's paralytic toxins.

With one down, Jackson ran over to assist Liam, the combined strength of them both managing to beat the Berserker back, until the sounds of a roar and someone yelling from elsewhere, caught their attention. Worry struck Liam like a lightning bolt, compelling him to fight harder until he managed to stun the monster and grab ahold of it from behind, allowing Jackson to cut through its bone armor with his tail, paralyzing it just like the other one.

They both took one second to compose themselves, before sprinting off towards the sounds of a fight, hoping that they weren't too late.

 **Lydia POV –**

Lydia felt helpless as her and Mason watched the other three supernaturals fighting off the group of Berserkers, while also trying to avoid the random smatterings of gunfire that coming from around the station. It appeared s though the hunters were trying to avoid killing any normal people within the station, and were only firing intermittently instead of unloading on the building.

Out of all the fighters, Parrish was having the most luck, seemingly able to go toe to toe with two of them, but even with his powers as a Hellhound, he was slowly losing ground against them. Brett and Lori were both fighting the other two, while Corey did the best he could to try and help Parrish. As all this was going on, the Sheriff stuck close to her and Mason, trying to help by firing at their adversaries whenever he could.

All in all, things weren't looking too good for them.

One of the Berserkers managed to pin Parrish to the wall, leaving the other one able to stalk towards them. The three non-werewolves tried to hastily back into the office, but it was much faster than them. Stilinski tried to buy them some time by bolting the door behind them, but it was no match for the creature's oppressive form. It was almost within striking distance of them, when it started thrashing around, grasping towards it's back.

At that moment, Corey materialized, having jumped on the Berserker's back, trying to distract it.

"Run!"

Mason seemed hesitant to comply, but Lydia managed to pull him along as they fled from the room. Lydia glanced back in time to see the Corey get thrown into one the adjacent walls hard enough to send him through it. They tried to find somewhere else to hide, but the battered bodies of Brett and Lori were thrown at their feet, their respective Berserkers approaching them. They both were okay, but it seemed unlikely that they'd be able to continue fighting.

Lydia readied herself to try and scream her way out of this situation, but another roar sounded behind her before she could. Whipping around, she saw someone jump towards the Berserkers and managed to knock them both back several feet. The figure turned around, revealing himself to be Deucalion.

"I heard you needed some help."

As he said this, the two Berserkers got back up and were joined by the other two.

"Don't worry I brought some of my own."

"Everybody down!"

Instinctively, Lydia ducked behind one of the desks, making sure to bring both the Sheriff and Mason with her, as the sound of heavy gunfire rang out in the station. Looking in the direction of it was coming from, Lydia saw who their two allies were. Braeden and even more surprisingly, Stiles, both wielding shotguns, were providing enough firepower to send the Berserkers back.

At this point, the tide turned against the Berserkers, Deucalion using his superior strength to snap one of their necks, while Parrish grabbed ahold of one of them and ignited it on fire. With only two left, Lydia stood from her hiding spot, letting out a scream that was so powerful, that it caused the remaining to Berserkers to explode into dust.

With Berserkers all taken care of, the hunters outside the building increased the number of bullets they were shooting in the building, forcing everyone inside to duck and find cover. Lydia knew that they needed to get out of there before the building collapsed on top of them, but she didn't know how. Deucalion seemed to be having the same thought, but he had a solution to their problem.

"Deputy! We need to you to scare them off!"

Parrish looked as though he didn't really understand, but trusted the Hell hound side of him, as he stood up and headed towards the front door. All the gunfire was then directed at him, but the bullets seemed to have no effect on him. Once outside, more flames sprouted from his body, sending out a heat wave forward powerful enough to push their vehicles back several feet and injure a few of the hunter. The display did the trick, the remaining hunters scrambled to their cars and took off as fast as they could.

Once Parrish was back inside, he collapsed back against the wall, exhausted, as everyone else stood up and began to take stock of the situation. For several moments the atmosphere was a little tense, until Stiles decided to break through it.

"I go away for a few weeks and everything goes to hell?"

 **Malia POV –**

Malia accepted the hand of her savior, albeit hesitantly. If living in Beacon Hills had taught her anything, it was that anyone could be out to get you, even if they seem like they're helping you. Still, something about the girl standing in front of her was familiar and that helped her relax, but only a little.

"Thanks for that…" She paused hoping the person would introduce themselves, but Peter beat her to it.

"Cora?! What're you doing here?"

Malia recognized the name as Derek's sister, which meant that Scott had managed to get some help.

"Scott asked Derek for help, so we came." She looked at Malia curiously, before finally asking, "Who's she?"

"I'm Malia. I'm his daughter." The widening of Cora's eyes betrayed how shocked she was by that statement, but before she could question further, Peter interrupted once again.

"I know that this little family get-together has been long overdue, but I think we have bigger problems to deal with."

Looking back towards the hunters, her mother had gotten back to her feet, gun at the ready, along with the others.

"Kill them!"

They all began firing as the Berserker charged forward. Peter and Cora leapt towards the Berserker, attempting to hold him off, while Malia began dispatching the hunters. She managed to move quick enough to avoid getting shot, kneeing one hunter in the face, then turning and knocking the one next to him into a tree.

This process continued for several moments until all the hunters were taken care of. Seemingly out of danger, Malia glanced around and saw that Peter and Cora were still battling the Berserker, neither side seemingly gaining an edge.

A roar echoed throughout the forest, causing the Berserker to knock Peter and Cora away and flee into the woods, Malia understanding what was happening. They were retreating. She began looking around where they were, hoping that Scott's mom was still there and uninjured.

She finally found Melissa bounded to a tree 30 yards away. With a singular focus, she ran towards her, hoping to release her and then get out as quickly as possible. Once there, she removed the gag in her mouth and used her claws to cut the ropes that were binding her.

"Oh, thank God. I was getting tired of hearing her go on about her revenge." Malia smiled at her attempted humor. Not even getting kidnapped would keep her down. She glanced around and saw Peter and Cora still standing off a few yards over. "Where is everyone?"

"Off helping the others. We're supposed to all meet back at the Animal Clinic."

Malia put one of Melissa's arms on her shoulder and helped her walk, as they made their way back to Malia's car. The made it a few yards before the sound of the slide of a gun was heard from behind them. _Shit_ , she thought, she'd completely forgotten about her mother. Turning around, Malia saw her standing with her shotgun aimed at her and Melissa. Fear gripped Malia's heart, she didn't think that she'd be able to move them both fast enough to dodge a shotgun round. Deciding that she had the best chance for survival, she tried to put herself between Melissa and her mother.

"No!"

A body knocked into her, sending both her and Melissa to the ground, as the blast of a shotgun rang out in the woods, followed by a body falling to the ground.

When she finally looked up, she saw her mother sprinting away into the woods, but where she was just standing lied Peter, having pushed her out of the way and taken the bullet. Forgetting everything else, Malia rushed to his side and saw multiple bullet wounds with the telltale blue smoke rising out of them.

Wolfsbane.

"Peter," she tried, his only response a groan, seemingly unable to hear her. "Peter!"

He finally looked at her, a smile gracing his face, but the sad look in his eyes gave him away.

"You need to get up."

He shook his head lightly. "I don't…think so sweetheart," he said, as he began coughing up blood. "I kept you safe. That's…all that matters."

Malia's eyes began to water. She grasped his hand, trying to take his pain away but she couldn't. There was nothing she could do. She grabbed his shoulders and tried to force him to stay awake.

"Dad…"

"All I ever wanted was to hear you call me that…" With one last smile, he passed out in Malia's arms.

 **Scott POV –**

Scott dismounted his bike outside the Clinic, Derek pulling in right behind him in his car. The pair of them had managed to fend off the Berserker for the most part, the battle only ending when a roar signaled the thing to retreat. Obviously, Gerard had told Kate to pull them back. Hopefully, that wasn't a bad omen.

Judging by the cars assembled outside, almost everyone else had gotten their first. It was good to see Stiles' jeep, Braeden's motorcycle, along with several other familiar cars outside.

The pair stepped towards the door, and were by the sight of the pack all huddled in little groups. Stiles, Lydia, and Braeden were all standing next, with Derek joining them once he entered. Mason, Corey, Brett and Lori huddled together in one corner along with Deaton. Off to the other side of the room was Liam and Theo. Next to them, to his slight surprise, was Jackson and Cora, leaning against one another, hands clasped together.

Finally, his eyes swept over towards one of the operating tables, where he saw his mom standing there. Forgetting everything else, mother and son stepped to each other and embraced in a bone crushing hug, filled with relief.

When he pulled back to look at his mom, he noticed Malia didn't look as though she noticed his arrival. She was still sitting next to one of the tables, absently stroking the hand of the person laying there.

Peter.

If it wasn't for the subtle rise and fall of his chest, Scott would've figured that the man was dead. He had multiple wounds on his chest, each looking as fresh as if he'd been shot only moments ago. The visual made Scott shudder, reminding him of his own critical injury. His eyes met Malia's and though no words were exchanged, he understood that she wasn't sure if he would make it.

Even thought there was no love lost between Scott and the former Alpha, he felt terrible for Malia, who was on the verge of losing her father. He moved to her, and when she finally noticed him, he pulled her into a strong hug, and though she returned it, he could tell there was a little hesitation there.

Finally pulling back, his gaze fell on a strangely subdued Theo and Liam, when he realized that someone was missing.

"Where's Argent?"

The question caused the room to be filled with sorrow and dread, along with a fresh batch of tears from Melissa. Malia too had tears in her eyes, as she pulled Scott into one of the back rooms, where he was met with a sight he hoped he would never see.

On top of the table in the room, was Argent's limp body.

 _ **AN –**_

 _ **Whooo, that was a ride wasn't it. Ending aside, this chapter was another especially difficult one to write. Action and fight scenes, though easy to visualize, I find it hard to accurately portray them in word format, so if the fight scenes are a little lacking, I apologize.**_

 _ **It probably comes as a little surprise that I killed off 2 character's this chapter, but don't worry, it's not all for not. Peter's death was done as a way for him to get a little redemption, as well ass push Malia's arc forward.**_

 _ **Choosing to kill Argent was another thing all together. I kept going back and forth on whether to kill him or Melissa, but I ultimately decided on him. I feel as though Melissa would hurt too much, whereas Argent both worked narratively and thematically.**_

 _ **I hope you guys like all the characters that I decided to bring back. In my mind, these are the characters that the show should've brought back, but I understand that things like schedules probably kept it from happening. I also decided to keep Jackson as a half-Kanima and put him in a relationship with Cora, because I've not really seen that before.**_

 _ **I want to address all the additional characters that have been introduced. This story is my way of showcasing how I would've ended a few storylines in the show. Because of that, the only characters who will be vital to the plot are those whose POV the story is told by. There will be more death in this story, and my only warning is that**_ _ **everyone is expendable**_ _ **.**_

 _ **On that note, I hope everyone enjoyed this update, and thanks for reading!**_

 _ **AN 2 – I re-edited this chapter after determining that I wasn't exactly happy with how things played out with Peter. As I started formulating future ideas for this story, I realized that Peter could still be useful to the plot, so instead of him dying, he's now critically injured.**_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 **Lydia POV –**

Argent's funeral had been a small, subdued affair. Scott had insisted the he be buried next to Allison and Victoria, so that the hunter could be reunited with his family.

All the pack had been there, being the closest thing that Argent had to family, even some like Bret, Lori, Theo, and everyone else being there to pay their respects to the man. Lydia had sat up front with Scott, Stiles, Malia, Derek and Melissa. Scott's mom had taken Chris' death the hardest, breaking down multiple times throughout the ceremony, needing the help of Scott and Noah to support her as the casket was lowered.

In the few weeks since the funeral, the pack had all taken Argent's death differently. Stiles, Derek, Liam, and most of the pack concentrated their efforts in trying to track down Gerard. Liam blamed himself for Argent's death, and worked to track the man tirelessly, but to no avail.

Malia had mostly kept to herself since the funeral. In the months since their battle against the Dread Doctors and the Beast, Argent had become something of another father figure to her, since her adoptive father wasn't in the know with Beacon Hills supernatural situation, and Peter was well…Peter. Losing him had hit her nearly as hard as losing her mother and sister had.

Peter's injury had also left her shaken as well. Almost losing her father had put a lot of things into perspective and even though she still felt that they would never get close as a family, she wasn't prepared for nearly losing him. She needed time to come to terms with everything from that night, and spent most of her time either alone in the woods, or at Derek's loft while her father was recovering.

Scott spent most of his time taking care of his mom. Her and Argent had gotten involved in the months since the Wild Hunt, so she was having a tough time coping with his loss. It was apparent that Scott was also having trouble, and when he wasn't looking after his mother, he would disappear for hours on end, remaining distant from the rest of the pack.

Lydia herself had taken it upon herself to check on all the members of the pack and make sure they were all okay. She regularly checked on Malia and Melissa to see if they were okay, the latter being grateful for her presence, and while Malia did appreciate the gesture, the werecoyote wished to be alone most of the time.

She spent much of her time with the rest of the pack, and though most of her time was spent with Derek, Liam, and Stiles, she was still able to interact with everyone else. The most surprising news was that Jackson and Cora were together, which they claimed happened when Cora decided to travel to London and had met him there. Lydia briefly thought that she might resent the younger Hale or that there might be some unresolved tension between her and her ex-boyfriend, but she found that she only felt happiness for the two of them, and glad that Jackson had found someone since they had broken up.

On the topic of break-ups, her and Stiles' interactions were somewhat awkward. She'd still yet to fully forgive him for breaking up with her and leaving her behind without talking to her. She could forgive him leaving, but she couldn't understand why he was so adamant on ending their relationship. They managed to get past the tension due to recent events, and a combined worry over their mutual best friend and Alpha.

Arriving at Derek's loft, the sight she was met with was much the same as the other dozen times she'd stopped by in the past few weeks. Everyone was stood around a table in the center of the room, as Stiles, Derek, and Liam organized the attempt to find Gerard. Mason and Corey were there, along with Jackson, Cora, Braeden, and surprisingly enough, Malia. Bret and Lori weren't there this time, meeting with their own pack to bot warn them and get their help in the manhunt.

"We've searched everywhere in and around Beacon County for the last two weeks, and we still haven't come up with anything," came Liam's frustrated growl.

"That's because Gerard is the best at what he does," replied Braeden, her eyes never straying from her work as she cleaned her shotgun. "The only reason you guys were able to find him before was because he wanted you to."

"That doesn't mean we're going to quit looking, alright?" Stiles raised both hands towards Liam and Braeden, hoping to prevent another argument from taking place. Tensions kept growing the longer they went with no sign of the old hunter.

"Okay, Liam…see if you can round up Theo and check out the north side of the preserve. Check and see if you can get Bret and Lori to ask Satomi to look around the Eastern Lookout."

Liam nodded, and everyone broke off into small groups, conversing amongst themselves. Liam went with Mason and Corey, who looked as though they were offering to help Liam with his search tonight. Derek and Braeden moved to the kitchen with Malia, who only talked for a minute before going back to check on Peter. Jackson and Cora stood by the large window, his arm around the girl's waist, leaning against each other.

That left her and Stiles alone, still looking at the large map of Beacon Hills that they had strewn across the table. The awkward tension was so thick, it was almost oppressive. Lydia resolutely kept her eyes on the table, refusing to look at Stiles.

"We'll find him."

She decided against answering, knowing that a response meant conversation, which meant having to try and repress her anger.

"We've beaten him before, we can do it again."

Still no response. Finally, he moved close enough to put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to acknowledge his presence. He turned her body towards him, but kept her eyes on the table, one last attempt at avoidance.

"Hey," he tried with a slight shake of her shoulder, which was enough to do the trick, as she now looked at him, her annoyance clear to see. "You okay?"

"Oh yes, I'm perfectly fine," she stated in the driest tone she could muster.

He shook his hand, as he released her shoulder and rubbed his face nervously.

"I know you're not too pleased with me-"

"Oh really. What gave it away."

"- but I want you to know that I didn't leave because of anything you did."

Her eyes tightened, as she gave him a disbelieving look. "We're seriously doing the whole, 'it's not you, it's me' thing, are we?"

An exasperated sigh escaped Stiles lips. "I know how bad, and terribly cliched that sounds, but I mean it. I only wanted you to be happy."

"And you didn't stop to think for a second that what made me happy was you?" Stiles' silence was more than enough of an answer for her, but now the flood gates had opened. "Did you once, ask me what I thought on the whole thing." Stiles opened his mouth to respond, but Lydia was on a roll and cut him off. "No! You thought you knew what was best for me and made the decision for yourself. This is something I'd expected from Jackson or Aiden, not you."

Stiles was without words, his mouth opening and closing several times before he was able to formulate any response. "Lydia, I didn't mean it like that."

"You still have the same problem you've had for years. You see me as some kind of prize that you won, and put me up on a pedestal like you did before all this," she exclaimed as she gestured around the room to the pack.

"Lydia, I -"

"No. Maybe this is for the best."

The two stood in silence for several moments, the finality of the situation pressing down on them both. After years of their relationship evolving and growing, it seemed like they were over for good.

Stiles was the one who finally broke the silence.

"Look. I know I'm not your favorite person right now, and you probably would rather do anything than continue talking to me, but we have more important things to worry about than our relationship."

Lydia let out a sigh of defeat. She knew that he was right, they needed to focus on surviving and not on whatever issues that she still had with him. She also knew that she would eventually forgive him, but she didn't think it would happen any time soon.

"Alright. What's the plan then?"

"The plan…is to keep looking just like we've been doing, and eventually, we'll find Gerard."

"What about Scott?"

"Haven't talked to him since the funeral."

It was Lydia's turn to grab Stiles' shoulder and force him to look at her. "He's hurting Stiles. Whether he realizes it or not, he needs his pack. He needs us. Now more than ever."

"Not that I disagree, but nobody knows where he's been running off to lately."

Lydia gaze moved over to the map sitting on the table, scanning the various areas around Beacon Hills, until her eyes settled on one particular spot.

"I think I know where to find him."

 **Scott POV –**

"Hey, it's me again, but you probably already knew that." Scott took a deep breath to calm his shaky ones, his emotions running as high as they did every time he was there. Rolling his shoulders to alleviate some of the stiffness, he continued his vigil which had taken up most of the last few weeks of his life.

Everyday since the funeral, Scott McCall found himself sat in front of three gravestones in Beacon Hills Cemetery. The one farthest to the left belonged to Victoria Argent, next to hers was Allison's, and finally, the most recent addition, was Chris'.

He always sat in between Allison and her father's grave, not because of any bitterness or hatred towards the Argent matriarch, but because of how important the father and daughter were in his life. He came to terms with Mrs. Argents attempt to kill him a long time ago, because even though her methods were extreme and were aimed at killing him, deep down he knew that she was only doing what was best for her family. Besides, even after everything, she was still beloved by both Allison and her father in the end, still their family.

"I'm sorry." He'd been saying that a lot lately. Usually, he was unable to say a whole lot when he visited, the familiar feelings of failure making him too choked up. He figured if he said it enough, maybe it would all eventually count for something.

His eyes never wavered from the graves in front of him, even as the sound of squeaky brakes and footsteps came from behind him. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was, their scent and the familiar cadence of the pairs heartbeats enough.

"Scotty?"

"I'm sorry for everything guys."

He felt a small hand close on one shoulder and a larger, stronger on fall onto his right shoulder.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Nobody blames you."

"I understand that up here," he said pointing to his head, before his hand slowly trailed down to his chest, "but not so much here."

He finally turned his head to regard Stiles and Lydia, somehow managing to produce a small smile. He was grateful that they were there, their presence helping to calm his raging emotions.

"I can't help but feel that if she never met me, they would still be here."

"You can't think like that Scott."

"But it's the truth. I promised her," directing an arm towards Allison's grave, "that I would keep her dad safe, and I failed."

As his tears began to fall once again, Lydia dropped down to her knees, and wrapped her arms around Scott's body, pulling his shoulder into her chest. "You know that's not true Scott. Argent would never abandon us, abandon you. You were like a son to him. You didn't force him to help us, he wanted to help us." Her eyes too drifted to her best friend's grave, her eyes growing wet with tears as well. "Allison's code was to protect those who can't protect themselves, and if she were alive, I know she would've helped us. Chris was only doing what his daughter wanted him to do."

Scott thought about her words, and despite his immense feeling of doubt and self-loathing, he knew that she was right. Argent would never sit on the sidelines or put his own safety first when others needed help, the hunter and himself were similar in that regard. Allison would never forgive either of them if they didn't do everything in their power to help others.

Slowly one of his arms raised up and returned Lydia's embrace, finally feeling better after weeks of punishing himself. Movement to his left, followed by another pair of arms encircling him, meant that Stiles had joined the embrace, and Scott felt infinitely better. Having his two best friends with him gave him the power to make sure that Chris didn't die in vain, the power to stop Gerard, and the power to fight on.

He still had Stiles and Lydia, but deep down, he knew that he still had Allison.

 _ **AN-**_

 _ **Sorry for the bit of delay since the last chapter. Turns out, my workload for my last semester of college isn't as light as I had hoped it would be, so it was a little difficult to find time to finish up this chapter. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll figure out how to balance everything so I can have a regular update schedule again.**_

 _ **I know not a whole lot happens in this chapter, but I felt it was necessary to show how the events of the previous chapters have affected everyone. This idea will continue into the next chapter, but more major events will take place.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading!**_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 –

 _ **Fair Warning – Lemon Ahead**_

 **Liam POV –**

Sweat continued to pour down Liam's brow, as he rained punches on the heavy bag in front of him. He'd been punching non-stop for nearly a half an hour, showing no signs of wanting to stop any time soon.

This sort of work out was cathartic to the young Beta, something he came back to whenever the stress from either life or the supernatural. The slight ache in his muscles provided an excellent distraction, and right now, he needed one. Images of Kate Argent and her Berserkers getting the better of him and Theo came unbidden to his mind, his blows subtly increasing in strength.

He attempted to clear his mind once more, but he couldn't stop the memory of him and Isaac finding a beaten and bloody Theo carrying Argent's body. His breathes were turning into growls, his claws started digging into his palms, as his anger and self-loathing started boiling over, until he finally punched a hole in the bag, before it violently flew of its hook, into a nearby wall.

His eyes remained locked onto the broken bag unseeing, as his labored breaths slowly turned into growls. Realizing he was nearly losing the last vestiges of his control, he closed his eyes and took a few calming breaths.

"The sun…the moon…the truth…the sun…the moon…the truth…"

He repeated his mantra for several moments, until he felt the animal part of his brain slowly. His anger and frustration melted away and was replaced with another, equally destructive emotion.

Guilt.

Argent had died on his watch. He elected to stay and fight the Berserkers, instead of chasing after Kate. He chose to send Theo after them, instead of protecting Argent himself. He didn't blame the Chimera for the hunter's death, but he did blame himself.

Ever since that night, everyone from Melissa, to Stiles, to Scott, all came forward and told him how he wasn't responsible, but he knew better. He was supposed to be better. How was he eventually supposed to be the protector of Beacon Hills if he couldn't save anyone. No, he had to get better. He _needed_ to get better.

In the days following, he poured himself into tracking Gerard and into his own workouts. Since he felt Argent's death was his fault, then avenging him became his responsibility. It turned into an obsession; he was either helping plan the pack's next move, or he was here at home working out. One way or another, he would right the wrong he caused.

He pulled out his phone to check the time and saw that it was nearly time for the pack to gather and track Gerard and his allies once again. Grabbing a towel off a nearby bench, he wiped his forehead down, before heading off to get cleaned up.

Once he made it to the Clinic, he was met by the usual crowd, Stiles, Lydia, Scott, Malia and Derek standing on one side of a table, and the rest of the pack situated on the other side. Liam absently noticed that while most of the senior pack stood within acceptable distances from each other, Lydia had chosen to distance herself from Stiles and instead was close to Scott, the two of them appearing more attentive to each other than normal. At the same time, he saw Malia cast a few wistful glances to Scott, as well as a few hesitant ones towards Theo, who's gaze rarely left the werecoyote.

Putting all this to the back of his mind, he glanced at the map which had become a permanent fixture of the table that everyone was around. His eyes raked across the many red x's the peppered much of the map, each one representing an area that they searched and found no trace of Gerard. The amount of the map that they had yet to check was nearly erased, Lydia audibly wondering if they should expand their search to outside of Beacon Hills.

"I think the next place we should check is over by the old power station."

Though Scott did his best to sound confident, everyone knew that he was grasping at straws as much as the rest of them were. They were running out of time and options. The more time that Gerard stayed at large, the better the chance that whatever he had planned would happen.

"If we knew what he was after," came Mason's voice from the other side of the table, "we might have a better idea of where to look for him."

Out of the corner of his eye, Liam saw Scott stiffen, and he wasn't the only one. Everyone else had seen it and was now looking at the Alpha, all except Theo. Scott had only recently returned to these meetings after Argent's death, so he hadn't had the opportunity to tell anyone yet. With a sigh, Scott spoke.

"He wants my powers," he began noticing how the rest of the senior pack's eyes widened, as Jackson and Derek visibly stiffened on the other side of the room. Liam had heard about how the old hunter tried to use Jackson and Scott to force Derek to turn him. "He tried to use the attacks to force me to bite him."

"Well, it's a good thing we stopped him," came Stiles' reply, trying his best to look at the bright side of things.

"There's no telling whether or not he'll use you all again, so some of us should stay back to protect my mom and the others."

"But we need as many of us as possible to try and find Kate and Gerard," said Corey.

"We can't risk it. Last time we took off and tried to fight them, they caught us off guard."

Scott was right, they were caught between a rock and a hard place.

"So, we can't leave anyone unprotected," started Liam, "but without enough people, it'll take too long to search the rest of the town. How're we supposed to find them?"

"We won't have to."

Everyone's eyes shifted over to Theo as he spoke.

"If Gerard knows the tunnels underneath Beacon Hills better than anyone, then there is one place we haven't thought of." He paused his eyes flickering over to Malia briefly before continuing. "The Dread Doctor's operating theater."

"How do we even know that's where they are?" came Cora's voice, distrust clear in her tone of voice.

"It's the only place you don't have here on the map. Gerard knows that it is a hidden location that few people know the entrance to. Malia and I are the only one's who know where it is."

"Scott and I found it when we were fighting the beast," Liam piped up.

"But you don't know all the entrances," he replied dismissively as he stepped from around the table and approached Scott and the others, "if you're going down there, you're going to need me."

Scott looked at Theo for several moments, indecision clear on his face, until he gave a tight nod, which seemed to satisfy Theo.

"Alright, so the plan is that Theo will lead Malia, Lydia, Stiles, Derek, and I to the operating theater, where we'll catch them off-guard."

"There's too many of them. You'll never beat all of them by yourselves."

Scott looked to Mason who seemed genuinely worried and offered him a reassuring smile.

"If Gerard is convinced that we'll never find it, then we can catch him off-guard. He won't have a lot of people there so that it's harder to find."

Though it was clear that most of the others were far from happy with the idea, they understood Scott's logic and hesitantly agreed to the plan. Once everyone broke apart from the table, Liam approached Scott.

"Are you sure you don't want me down there with you? I can help."

"I need you to help keep everyone safe. The more people we send down there, the easier it will be for us to get caught." He put his hand on Liam's shoulder, trying to be reassuring and though deep-down Liam knew that he was telling the truth, he couldn't help the nagging thought that he was being benched because he let Argent die.

As everyone began to leave, he noticed Malia standing off to the side, her eyes still occasionally finding their way towards their Alpha. Deciding to see what was bothering her, he approached her cautiously.

"You okay?"

She whipped her head towards him, her glare and scowl combination almost enough to convince him to drop the matter all-together, until she visibly sagged right after.

"Yeah…" she began flimsily, sounding as if she were trying to convince herself more so than him. "It's just that with my dad still hurt, and everything with Argent, it's been a little rough, you know?"

He did understand, probably more than she realized.

"I get what you're going through-"

"How could you possibly understand what I'm going through," she replied, anger back in full force. Before he could get another word in, she stomped towards the exit and left.

 **Malia POV –**

Malia slammed her front door shut as soon as she got home, her emotions still running high from earlier. Ever since Peter had nearly died saving her life, something that she never expected of him, her emotions have been a wreck. She was trying to come to terms with the idea of losing her biological father, as well as the conflicting ideas of the man who saved her life, versus the man who had once used her to try and steal Scott's power.

Her pack mates weren't helping the matter either. Every time they got together to discuss their next plan of action, she noticed the way they looked at her, like they felt sorry for her, even though, she knew there was no love lost when it came to Peter. The chemo signals they all gave off whenever she was around being nearly overwhelming, contributing to her increased time away from the pack outside of meetings.

Her mind flashed to her brief exchange with Liam before she stormed off. She was tired of all the words of "comfort" that kept coming her way. None of them truly understood what she was going through, except maybe Scott since Argent was like a father to him.

She climbed the stairs up to her room as her mind turned to thoughts about her Alpha. They'd barely seen each other since that night, mostly due to each of their self-imposed isolations. She usually sought him out when things became too much for her like they were now, whether it was just needing someone who would listen or if she was needing physical release, but that seemed unlikely, because Scott and Lydia had repaired the rift that was between them. Even though Malia and Scott had gotten much closer over the last few months, his connection with her would never be as strong as his connection with Lydia.

Still, she couldn't suppress the disappointment that Scott wasn't waiting for her in her room when she opened the door. Throwing herself onto the bed, she resigned herself to not getting any of that kind of relief tonight. Lost in her thoughts, she idly took in the faint blue glow that was coming from her drawer. She opened it and pulled out the Garuda claws once again, an action that she did more frequently ever since the night she fought her mother. The memory of her mother pointing a shotgun at her pointblank was still fresh in her mind. At one point, Malia thought that when she took her mother's powers, the Desert Wolf would stop trying to kill her, but it seemed that it only made the older woman's need for revenge even stronger.

A sound from outside her window broke her train of thought. Quickly stashing the claws back in the drawer and shutting it, she creeped noiselessly towards her open window. Not giving whoever it was time to react, she reached out to the side of her window and hauled them into her room, slamming them down on the floor. She couldn't suppress an audible groan once she realized who it was.

"This brings back memories."

"What do you want Theo?" He was one of the last people she wanted to see right now, especially with her emotion out of whack.

"What, am I not allowed to visit a friend?"

"That would work if we were actually friends." She got up from off him and moved over to the opposite side of the room from where he was.

"Come one Malia, don't act like you don't like me. I can _smell it_ from over here." The cocky grin that he had on his face infuriated her.

"Like I would want _that_ from you." His grin didn't go away at all, but he had taken a few noticeable steps towards her.

"Don't tell me you don't need some relief, especially after what happened between Peter and your mother."

He was now right in front of her, close enough that she could smell the desire pouring off him, forcing an unsolicited reaction from her own, when he started reaching out to touch her shoulder. Not trusting herself, she grabbed him and threw him into the wall behind her. Theo immediately put his hands up in surrender

"Hey, this is exactly what I'm talking about. You need a distraction and I'm here offering one."

"I'm pretty sure Lydia wouldn't appreciate you trying to have sex with me," she growled hoping that it would be enough to deter the Chimera, before she did something she would regret. The slight tightening of his eyes was the only warning she got before Theo quickly grabbed ahold of her shoulder and switched their positions, caging her against the wall. The shock of it, coupled with the more darkened look of his eyes did nothing to help her wayward desire.

"Lydia and I had a purely physical relationship, and she made it very clear a few days ago that it was over," he then swooped in, dragging his nose along the contours of her neck, causing Malia to gasp out, her body instinctively bucking forward before she could stop it. His head traveled up to her ear, "And since I know who she'd rather spend her time with, I know Scott won't be around to help you either." She felt his tongue briefly touch her earlobe, causing her core to tighten and the last of her will to fight beginning to dwindle. "Why don't we help each other?"

She knew she should stop this, that she should push him away and force him to leave, but his proximity caused all the reasons not to do it to be washed away, and all the reason for it to come to the forefront, when she finally gave in.

One hand wound up to his hair, while her other to his waist, pulling him in and eliminating the distance between them. His mouth immediately began nipping and sucking on her neck, his body grinding against hers, causing her to moan appreciatively. His mouth moved up to her jawline, but impatience got the better of her, so she pulled his mouth up to hers and forced her tongue to collide with his.

She sighed into the kiss as his tongue ran along her teeth. He had no right to be that good with his mouth, making her wonder how good he was at other things. They battled for dominance, mouths sliding over one another, tongues dueling aggressively. She fisted some of his hair and pulled back, so she could return the favor and attack his neck herself, smiling at the groan he gave when she bit lightly at his pulse point. He pulled her back up to his mouth, kissing more fervently, his hands dropping to her shirt.

The sound of fabric tearing caught her attention, when she looked down, he had ripped her shirt in two. She pulled back and growled in annoyance at his audacity, before reaching and returning the favor. Pausing to stare at his physique, she was momentarily distracted, allowing Theo to push her back into the wall, his mouth returning to her neck. She was still reeling as her hands roved across his chest, trying to map every inch of it, his own slipping behind her and pulling apart her bra, freeing her chest, his mouth traveling down and latching onto her nipple, drawing a pleasurable cry from her.

The next few moments bled together in a lust filled daze. As Theo kept his attention on her chest, she fumbled with his fly as she tried to open his pants, reaching within to grab a hold of his manhood, which stood proud at attention. Theo moaned as she stroked him, his hands working on her pants, until he was able to get his fingers to her core and start teasing her. He added another finger to her core, while Malia began stroking him faster, surprised when he managed to get harder in her hand. Her breathing started getting labored while the pair worked their pants the rest of the way down, leaving them in just their underwear.

Patience was something neither of them had, as they both ripped the offending clothing off the other, their mouths connecting in the familiar dance of tongues once more, as they rutted together to relieve some of the pressure that tormented them. Every brush of his erection added to the fire building in her core, causing her claws to come out, deepening the gouges she was leaving on his back.

But it wasn't enough, and Malia knew she'd go crazy if she didn't get relief soon. Theo seemed to have the same thought, one hand lifting one of her legs at the knee, the other lining himself up for their inevitable connection. A nod from her later and he thrust home, forcing a moan from them both.

Theo gave an experimental thrust before he set an aggressive pace with strong thrusts, his mouth finding hers once more. She felt each thrust reverberate through her bones, locking her eyes onto his own, nearly black with lust. One particularly hard thrust caused her to bite down on his lower lip, earning her a growl, which she returned with her own cocky grin.

He still had a few surprises though, grabbing her standing leg, lifting her completely off the ground as if she weighed nothing at all and began thrusting like it was the only thing that mattered. Her breath caught in her throat as she hung on for dear life. She clawed at his back as his pace increased even further. Theo took a step back from the wall, leaning forward so Malia's shoulders occasionally grazed the wall, and began pulling her into his plows, spiking her pleasure even further, her toes curling at the sensation. This was slowly looking to be the best sex she'd ever had. but it was't enough

"More!"

It was the first words either of them uttered since their tryst began, and Theo happily obliged her. He had been holding her up for several minutes, but without missing a beat, he pulled her from the wall and laid her on the bed, his body rocking into her now rather than thrusting. Their foreheads connected as the two stared into each other's eyes. Theo hooked his hands under he shoulders while Malia's grabbed his ass like she wanted him even further inside her. Their lips connected once again, but Theo pulled away after a few seconds, much too quickly for her liking.

Hooking her right leg over his shoulder, he regained his previous pace, the force of his thrust causing her bed to smack loudly into the wall, making Malia thankful that her father wasn't home. She threw her head back in rapture, uncaring how exposed her neck was, which Theo quickly took advantage of, sinking his teeth into the side of it. Incoherent words fell from her lips, urging Theo to bring them closer to bliss. Her moans and cries were morphing into screams, and her death grip on her sheets threatened to tear the fabric, but she only cared for finding her release. Theo's hips were now a blur of movement, a sharp clap of skin hitting skin adding to the other noises the lovers were making with every thrust.

She felt the tight coil that had been wound up inside her begin to loosen, making her cry out that she was close. Her cries were muffled when Theo retook her lips again, his free hand going to the bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs. Her core briefly tightened, before the coil finally loosened, as she found one of the most explosive releases she'd experienced. Her legs shot out straight and her toes began to curl, as the muscles from the waist down began to spasm. She thrashed around uncontrollably, head shaking back and forth like she was trying to shake something off her head, her arms alternating between scratching the man above her and clawing at the bed beneath her all the while, Theo kept a hold of her, his pace never faltering.

Her body finally began to relax, as Theo propped himself up on his knees, hands flying to her hips to help pull her onto his aching manhood. His thrusting began losing its rhythm, his breathes turning into gasps as his end neared. His face turned to the ceiling as he gave one more mighty thrust before his body locked up and her insides were flooded with his release. He stayed there until his pulses died down, collapsing on top of her in exhaustion.

The two laid there for several moments as they came down from their collective high, both covered in a sheen of sweat, but neither felt the need to move just yet. Theo began to kiss and nibble his way from the top of her breasts, up her neck, before finally landing on her lips, causing her eyes to close. He robbed her of what little breath she had managed to regain with that single kiss.

When she opened her eyes, she was met by his cocky grin, which brought back her earlier annoyance with him.

"Was that good enough for you?" His tone was slightly teasing and challenging, something that she simply could not allow.

With a sudden burst of strength, she rolled them both over, but she forgot where they were on the bed, sending off the bed. Theo attempted to stop their fall by grabbing her covers, but that only pulled them with the pair as the fell to the floor. They landed with a sizable thump, Malia landing on top of Theo. She didn't give him the opportunity to get his bearings before she grabbed his manhood and sank completely on it, drawing moans out of them both. Theo quickly righted himself, grabbing her thighs and helping with her impassioned movements. Mirroring his earlier challenge in her own eyes, she quickly retook his lips, as they pushed shamelessly into another round.

It was going to be a long night.

 _ **AN – So I'm sure this might be the longest single chapter I've ever written. There originally were 2 more sections of this chapter but I figured they would work better next chapter. The fact that over ¼ of this chapter is the lemon is something new for me. This is my first attempt at a serious lemon, and even if you don't like the pairing, I hope I did a decent enough job.**_

 _ **I know that some people might be upset by the Maleo lemon but hear me out. Theo is someone who has no problem using other people, while 6A showed that Malia has that side of her too, especially when it comes to sex. In that season she uses it as a way to deflect her problems, and there also is that natural attraction between her and Theo. Hopefully that doesn't turn a lot of you off this story completely. The only reassurance I can give is that this is the only Maleo bit for the rest of the story.**_

 _ **As always, thanks for reading!**_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 –

 **Malia POV –**

Malia was finally awoken by the sunlight finally shining through the blinds of her bedroom window, forcing her to try and fight to go back to sleep. She tried to burrow herself further into her covers and pillow, but the damage had already been done, forcing a groan from her as she realized that there was no way that she'd be able to go back to sleep.

As her internal fog began to clear, her senses began kicking in and alerting her to her current surroundings. Firstly, she noticed that she wasn't in her bed as she had initially thought, but on the floor in her bedroom. The next thing was that what she thought was a pillow, was in fact just a bundle of her sheets that had obviously come off her bed with the rest of her covers. Chancing a role to her back, she gasped when her back met her carpet, realizing that her back was covered in both carpet burns and some slight bruising. The gasp caused her to inhale deeply through her nose, filing her nose with a multitude of scents.

Sweat. Sex. Theo.

 _Oh god._

The memories of the previous night flooded her brain, from Theo accosting her, to her eventual acceptance to her advanced, to their _first_ tryst. First, being the operative word. Their coupling had taken them to the floor, where they continued to two more rounds before they both passed out in exhaustion. Flashes from the night before including her pinning Theo's arms above his head as she rode him, as well as Theo returning the favor by when he locked her arms behind her back as he brutally thrust into her from behind.

All these thoughts of the admittedly mind-blowing sex from last night, caused some residual tingles of arousal to flow through her. A smile crossed her face as she briefly considered propositioning Theo for another round, knowing that it would be just as good as the previous night. Her brain started to combat her arousal though once she remembered just who it was she was dealing with. Unconsciously, she reached an arm to her right, intent on rousing her bedmate, or more accurately, floor mate. Whether it was to entice him or not, she hadn't quite figured out yet, nor would she as her hand only found air where she expected to find Theo.

Her shock caused her to sit up abruptly, but she had yet to open her eyes, and was completely unaware that one of the drawers of her nightstand was ajar until her forehead connected with it. Her eyes flew open on impact, as she fell on her back grasping at her throbbing forehead.

Once the pain had receded, she rose more cautiously this time, her left arm holding the covers to her chest in embarrassment. Once she was upright, her eyes confirmed her suspicion that she was alone in her room. Theo was nowhere to be seen, having obviously been gone some time now, the scent she had caught only being the residual one from his presence with her most of the night.

She wasn't sure how she felt about Theo's disappearance. His absence only strengthened her opinion that last night was a mistake, a product of the natural pull between the two of them due to their coyote nature, no matter how good the sex was. It was probably for the best that she didn't make the same mistake twice, but she couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. She wouldn't go as far as to say that she connected with Theo over the experience, more than on a physical sense at least, but she felt more camaraderie with the Chimera, but apparently that meant nothing to him.

She was saved from further self-examination by her phone going off on nightstand above her. Careful, to not bang into the open drawer again, she reached up behind her and blindly felt around, until she finally found her phone, and unlocked it to find a text message from Stiles.

 _Stiles – meet up at the clinic in an hour._

She groaned after reading it and flopped back down onto the floor, with a slight thud and groan from her, having temporarily forgotten about the state of her back. It had slipped her mind that they were planning on going after Gerard today, cursing herself for not considering that before getting involved with Theo. She sat up slightly and glanced at the clock on her nightstand, which read. _1:08_.

She blanched, astonished that last night's relations had tired her out that much. She almost went down that slippery slope again, despite the knowledge that Theo wasn't there, but was able to distract herself by getting a shower and putting on new clothes. She even gathered up her sheets and put them in the wash, determined to get rid of his scent and save her from her wayward attraction.

From there, it was a short drive over to the Animal Clinic where she waited for everyone else to show up. She knew she was early but, with her mind continuing to worry over last night and this morning, she relished the solitude. Though she tried to focus her thoughts on their plan for tonight, her mind kept returning to her and Theo, her brain telling her tat she was missing something but couldn't figure it out.

Her brooding was interrupted by the sound of a car approaching, and though she expected it to be either Scott, Stiles, or Lydia, she was surprised when Liam was the first person to walk through the door. He didn't seem like his senses had picked up on her presence but when his eyes locked onto her, he clammed up for a second before striding to the opposite side of the room. She was briefly confused, until she remembered the way their conversation from yesterday had ended. She had to fight to keep the embarrassed blush from her face.

Before she lost her nerve, she decided to approach him and apologize.

"Hey Liam," she began awkwardly, as Liam turned to her, his expression neutral yet guarded. "I wanted to apologize for my outburst yesterday. I was frustrated, and I didn't mean any of it."

Liam continued to stare at her in silence, his hands clenched at his sides and his jaw clenched. Malia waited for him to accept her apology, or to at least acknowledge what she said, but it didn't seem likely to happen.

"Look, Liam-"

"I lost my dad 2 years ago." Whatever Malia had expected him to say, this obviously wasn't it. "He died in a car accident, before I transferred to Beacon Hills. He was a hard on me and strict around the house. I convinced myself that I would be better off without him, and do you want to know what the last thing I said to him was?" He paused, but Malia wasn't sure how to answer, not that she had any plan to. "I said 'I hate you'. Then 4 hours later we got the call saying he was hit by a drunk driver."

Malia stood there speechless. She knew Liam could smell the remorse she felt for him rolling off her in waves.

"I'm never going to live down that my last words to him were 'I hate you'. I can never take that back, no matter how hard I wish I could." He locked gazes with her, her eyes having turned from sorrowful to serious now. "I get that you and Peter have a difficult relationship, and I know that he's done some terrible things. But he's your dad. Don't regret not saving your relationship with him like I do with my dad."

She didn't know what to say or how to feel after hearing Liam's confession. The first thing she felt was ashamed by how she treated him yesterday, at how she just assumed that no one had any right to act like they understood her situation, when here was someone who understood probably better than even she did.

She didn't think as she crossed the room and gave Liam a hug, the first one the two of them had ever exchanged to the best of her knowledge. She felt him tense up briefly, before he gingerly returned the embrace, which helped Malia feel better.

At the sound of more people starting to arrive, they broke apart, Malia shooting him a reassuring smile.

 **Lydia POV –**

 _Lydia found herself in the long network of tunnels that traveled underneath Beacon Hills. She didn't know why she was down here, but she felt like she was in immediate danger._

 _She heard a noise behind her, and though her brain protested, her feet moved on their own accord towards the sound of the noise. She turned the corner and was met by more endless tunnels. Though she had no idea where she was going, she continued to move further into the labyrinth._

 _After what felt like forever, she came upon a door on one of the walls. She opened the door slowly and stepped inside, to a room that looked like a rundown operating theater. Immediately, she recognized the place as the home of the Dread Doctors and turned to run away, only for the door to shut and lock before she could. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the door to open, the sense of foreboding dread inside her growing._

" _Lydia."_

 _The noise was coming from further in the room and once again, Lydia watched helplessly as her body moved further into the room, betraying her. At first, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary._

" _Lydia."_

 _This time, the whisper was louder, and was coming from behind the operating table. She slowly crept to the other side of the table and gasped at the sight of what she saw._

 _There lying on the floor was a battered and bloodied Scott, puncture wounds in his stomach and blood pooling around him._

" _Scott!"_

 _Lydia took one step forward before she heard a growl behind her. Her joints locked up, as she turned towards the source of the sound, but was then attacked by something, with only a few fleeting images flashing through her mind._

 _A black shape._

 _A faint blue glow._

 _Yellow eyes that slowly bled into a dark red._

Lydia sat up in the passenger seat of Stiles' Jeep. She looked over at Stiles, hoping that he hadn't noticed her startling herself awake, but sadly he was glancing at her with worried eyes.

"You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine," she tried to sound as reassuring as possible, but it was difficult when the last images of her nightmare kept flashing through her mind. The shape, the blue, the eyes. Stiles definitely didn't look convinced.

"Did you see something Lydia? Is something going to happen?"

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean you're not sure? What exactly did you see?"

She hesitated for a moment, but realized that Stiles wouldn't let this go, so with a sigh, se told him everything that she remembered about her nightmare.

"Alright, that's it. We're calling this thing off."

"Stiles we can't! Gerard has proven that he will do whatever it takes to get to us; we can't just sit back and wait for him to attack someone again."

"But you saw Scott. That means that Gerard wins, which is even worse."

"We don't know that yet," she says in frustration. "I've been wrong before." Stiles still didn't look convinced, so she decided to try and placate him. "I'll tell Scott about what I saw, and if he thinks we should call it off, then we will."

Stiles stared at the road and gripped the steering wheel tight for several seconds, before he finally relaxed and gave her a nod.

The rest of the drive was silent, until the pair finally reached her destination. Lydia and Stiles were the last to show up at the clinic, Scott already talking to Derek, Liam, and Malia about what she assumed to be their plan for taking down Gerard. The atmosphere inside was tense and full of nervous anticipation, it was nothing compared to the maelstrom of emotions she felt inside.

What she had neglected to tell Stiles was that this was the third time she'd had that same nightmare, and though she put on a brave face because she knew it was the right thing to do, deep down, she agreed with Stiles, silently hoping that he would give a good enough argument so that she could agree and keep a clear conscience. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

"You good?"

Lydia jumped, having not realized that she'd been spacing out, and thus didn't notice that Scott had ended his conversation with the others and had approached her.

"Yeah I'm fine."

Scott gave a snort of derision, his head.

"You know, even if I couldn't smell it on you, I've known you long enough to know when you're lying."

She wracked her brain for a retort but eventually conceded that there was no way for her to convince Scott that he was wrong.

"Alright, alright," she paused for a moment, trying to find the right words, "I've…been having these dreams lately."

"What kind of dreams?"

"The kind where people die."

It was a testament to how messed up their lives were when Scott didn't even flinch at her words. This kind of thing was an all too regular occurrence.

"Who did you see?"

Lydia heart stopped for a moment. She tried as hard as she could to come up with a way to avoid this conversation. She wanted nothing more than to reassert that it was nothing and walk away, but this was Scott she was talking to. Now that he knew she saw that someone was going to die, he was going to stop at nothing to prevent that from happening, and though it was one of the things she admired about him, she never resented that more than right now.

"You."

This finally gave Scott some pause, which Lydia saw as an opportunity. Before he could regain some footing, she began recounting the details in her dream, all in the hope that it would deter Scott from going after the hunters.

"Lydia. I have to do this."

She quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to shake some sense into him, but the Alpha wouldn't budge.

"Scott. Don't do this. If you go after them, you'll die. What do you think will happen to all of us if that were to happen?"

"Don't worry, Liam will be able to handle whatever-"

"They need you Scott! I need you." The last part was little more than a defeated whisper.

Wasting little time, Scott wrapped her up in his arms, whispering reassurances to her as her eyes began to sting from holding back her tears.

"I'm sorry Lydia, but I have to do this."

"I know."

She looked up and met his eyes, the depth of affection that she could there caused her heart to stutter. Moving unconsciously, her left hand traveled up to his cheek, pulling hi down so she could place a kiss to his other cheek. When she pulled back, she noticed that he was staring at her with a look of wonder, before giving her a small smile.

"Just…please be careful Scott."

"Don't worry, I will be," he said as he stroked her right cheek with his thumb, "Besides, I've got that Gerard will never have", he turned back and looked at the rest of the room as they talked quietly amongst themselves, "my pack." He smiled at her then, which she couldn't help but return, the two walking back to the rest of the group. As they walked, her hand reached out and found his ready, as if he was waiting for her to take it and she thought that maybe, just maybe, everything would work out.

 _ **AN-**_

 _ **Sorry for the long wait between chapters. It was the end of my senior year at college and I wanted to focus mostly on my school work, while still trying to update when I could. Hopefully this chapter is adequate for you all.**_

 _ **I snuck in a little hint of the future in this chapter that hopefully when all is revealed, you'll smack yourself in the head for not noticing it.**_

 _ **With it now being summer, I hope to update much more frequently in this story, my other stories, and some new stories that I've brainstorming for a while now.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading.**_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 –

 **Scott POV –**

Despite having spent time searching for the Dread Doctors and hiding from the Wild Hunt in them, Scott found that he still had no sense of direction when it came to the vast network of tunnels under Beacon Hills. With Chris' death, the only people who have intimate knowledge of the tunnels were Gerard, Kate, and Theo.

Additionally, the former operating theater of the Dread Doctors was the only place that most of the pack had no idea how to find it. Scott, Liam, and Malia had all been there before, but Theo revealed that the Dread Doctor's had machines designed to make the tunnels around the operating theater more confusing so that only the Doctors themselves and their creations could navigate them without difficulty. That on top of Theo's apparent knowledge of secret entrances that were unknown, even to Gerard, resulted in Theo leading the group of Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Malia, and Derek through an unfamiliar stretch of tunnel.

After nearly an hour of searching, Theo had them stop in one of the many corridors in the tunnels, holding his hand to tell everyone to hang back while he looked at the left-hand wall. Scott too began taking in their surroundings but concluded that this was a section that they had already been through previously.

"We've already been through here. We should keep moving before we're spotted."

He took one step forward before Theo stopped him with an arm across his chest. He glared at the Chimera and was about to ask him what he was doing, but Theo waved him off.

"What are you doing?"

"Look there," was all Theo said, pointing at a section of pipe around 15 yards ahead of them. At first all he could see were the dozen or so pipes that lined the wall and continued around the corner into the nest corridor. He was starting to get frustrated when he finally noticed something on the wall. He realized that it was one of the ouroboros symbol that had marked the entrance that he and Liam had found. It was right there, but his eyes had unconsciousness passed over it while they were searching for it.

"How did…?"

"It's the Dread Doctor's machines. Gerard must've found a way to reactivate them, so we couldn't find him."

Theo reached for the ouroboros, turned it upside down, and with a strong push the wall moved inwards before sliding to the side, revealing another set of tunnels.

"These passages lead to the holding chambers where they would keep their experiments." He motioned towards the path on the right, which seemed to go deeper into the underground network. "While that direction," he said indicating the other way, "leads to where they would incubate their successful experiments in the woods. It also leads to their lair in the Preserve, which is how they moved their equipment there before anyone could find them."

It made sense to Scott, since the Dread Doctors obviously went to great lengths to keep their experiments a secret, it wasn't hard to believe that they would somehow construct tunnels to hide their movements. Still though, something about Theo's explanation bothered him a little bit.

"How do you know it leads out to the preserve?"

"Because it's how I got back here after Mason turned into the Beast."

It was a reasonable enough answer, but something felt off about this whole scenario. Gerard knew that they had Theo with them, so why would he pick one of the few places that Theo had extensive knowledge of. He wanted to question it, but if Gerard really was down here, they needed to move quickly before he slipped through their fingers again.

"Alright guys let's go," said the Alpha as he started to move forward, the others falling in line behind him. If it wasn't for the fact that they had found this path behind a secret door, he would assume that they were just in another section of the tunnels. The pipes lining the wall were nearly identical to the rest of the labyrinth, the only indication that this area was any different was the stillness of the air and the layer of dust that had collected on every surface.

"How do we get inside without Gerard seeing us?" asked Stiles, who even though he was grateful when he heard that Theo had saved Lydia a few weeks back, still found it difficult to trust the Chimera after everything that happened.

"There's a door on the other side of the holding area that connects to the main bunker. It's hidden in the wall so that the test subjects would have no sense of where they were. They tried to hide it from me too, but I saw them use it a few times. That's how I was able to save Liam and Hayden when they were taken." Scott nodded his head in understanding before continuing to move in the direction that Theo indicated was to the lair.

The group continued to move forward for several minutes, Scott's unease growing with each passing second.

"Wait." Scott stopped ahead of the group, turning his ear towards the path in front of them.

"What is it?" said Stiles as he stepped up beside his best friend.

"Nothing. I don't hear anything."

"We should've heard them by now, right?" Came Malia's voice from behind them.

Scott and Stile turned around to see the other werewolves all focusing on trying hear if there were any signs of life up ahead, but judging by the concentrated yet frustrated looks on their faces, they weren't coming up with anything either.

"Maybe it's sound proof," said Lydia, "If the Dread Doctors went to these lengths to keep their lair from being found, maybe they thought of that."

Scott looked back down the corridor, debating whether to continue or find another way to find Gerard. Deciding that it was better to check and find nothing than to be tricked into giving up, he cautiously took another step forward.

"Hold on." Derek was now up next to Scott, his eyes closed as he stepped closer to the righthand wall. "Do you hear that?"

Scott stepped closer as well, closing his eyes and putting his ear next to the wall. At first, he heard nothing except the faint hissing sound that piping in the tunnels always had. He nearly gave up when he caught the lightest ticking noise coming from the wall, almost imperceptible due to the air moving through the pipes.

Before he could question it, multiple pipes along either wall suddenly burst, filling the tunnel with gas and vapor. One breath and the burning sensation that followed was all it took for Scott to realize what it was. "Wolf's bane! Run!"

The group quickly ran back the way that they came, covering their mouths with either their shirts or their hands as they tried to find a way out, the entrance now obscured by the thick wolf's bane fog.

Theo was the first to make it there, quickly grabbing onto the edge of the sliding door to try and pull it open. He struggled for a moment before the door opened, but by the look of surprise of Theo's face and the speed at which it flew open, it was apparent that he hadn't opened it.

With a speed that nearly caught him off-guard, Theo ducked under the powerful strike of the Berserker who was on the other side of the door, before being pinned to the wall by a transformed Kate. The rest of the pack stopped, in surprise, momentarily stunned that the sudden arrival of their attackers, before they shook off their bewildered state and rushed forward to help Theo fend of the surprise attack.

Malia and Derek quickly went to the doorway and found two Berserkers waiting for them there, which they tried to fight off as best they could. Meanwhile, Scott rushed at Kate, knocking her away from Theo, swiping at her with his right hands, but she deftly ducked out of the way.

The fight went on for a few minutes, and while Derek, Scott, Malia, and Theo were able to keep Kate and the Berserkers back, they were worse for wear, having needed to take a few shots to keep their focus away from Lydia and Stiles. When Derek and Malia had gotten the two Berserkers out of the tunnel with great difficulty, Lydia moved along the wall until she was in front of the entrance, and with a push of her hands and a powerful scream, knocked the Berserkers into the adjacent wall, momentarily stunning the great beasts.

While this was going on, Scott and Theo were still battling Kate and neither side was able to gain any real advantage. Vaguely, Scott noticed that a particularly strong scent of anger and rage was coming from Kate and that most of her attacks were directed at Theo.

After ducking one of her swings, Theo wrapped his arms around her waist, and tackled her out into the other corridor and into the advancing Berserkers. Scott was going to follow him out and help until the Chimera yelled, "Go! Out to the Preserve! I'll hold them off!" He then kicked at the wall next to the doorway, hitting the Ouroboros symbol shutting the door behind him, leaving the rest of the pack in the tunnel as the gas began to fill it up once again.

"We need to keep moving," came the tired voice of Derek from behind him. The fight as well as the Wolf's Bane in the air was starting to affect them, so there was little hesitation as the pack continued to sprint towards the direction of the Preserve exit.

After running for what seemed like a mile, Scott finally saw light at the end of the tunnel, which he hoped signaled that the exit was near. The fatigued fighters pushed forward faster until they came across a room with what appeared to be a cage in the middle. Taking a moment Scott surveyed the room, noticing 2 things very quickly.

1\. The whole in the wall that had once led to the basement of an abandoned house had been seemingly patched up, whether by Gerard or somebody else remained to be scene.

2\. The tunnel that led to the Preserve seemed to be inside the cage, meaning that they would have to run through there to escape.

"There!" he said as he made to sprint towards the exit, the others following quickly behind him.

No sooner had the pack entered the cage, then the entry to the tunnel began to close in front of them.

"No!" screamed Scott and he, Malia, and Derek were at the door a second later, each using their strength to try and keep it from closing, but to no avail. Eventually, the three of them had to let go or risk crushing their hands. Distracted as they were by their one chance at escaping slipping through their fingers, they didn't notice the sound of footsteps approaching until the sound of metal moving caught their attention.

Whipping around, they caught the last moments as the siding doors to the cage were slammed shut by a pair of hunters. Scott rushed to the door, hoping to pry it open, but the second his hands touched the metal, he felt a shock of electricity go through him, knocking him back several feet. Malia and Derek too approached the side of the cage but were also met by electric shocks.

"We're trapped," exclaimed a weak sounding Lydia, the gas affecting her and Stiles even though they weren't werewolves. Their fight to escape, coupled with the increased volume of Wolf's Bane gas in the tunnels, started to catch up to Scott, his vision going blurry and his muscles beginning to give out. He fought back the fuzziness to his brain as his body collapsed to the ground, the last image he saw before falling into unconsciousness was the unmistakable silhouette of Gerard approaching with a gas mask, until the darkness finally took over.

 _ **AN:**_

 _ **Hey, I posted an update. What are the odds. I know I repeatedly promise that I'm going to get better about updating and I meant it the last time, but last-minute complications with school have kept me busy.**_

 _ **On top of that this chapter was a lot harder to write than I had anticipated. This chapter is a bit shorter than I write, but I figured that I've been slacking on posting so I delayed the reveal that was supposed to be at the end of this chapter until next time. I'm almost done part one of "Namesake" and once I do that I can focus 100% on this story and "Knowledge and Power".**_

 _ **Hope you all enjoy, and thanks for reading!**_


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